White-tailed deer jump in front of cars in November and the number of crashes increases.
According to a recent US study, the transition to winter time significantly increases deer crashes in the US. According to an article in Current Biology, there were 16% more crashes.
In total, there are approximately two million accidents between cars and deer in the United States each year. If the clocks were not moved, according to the researchers’ calculations, 33,000 deer and 33 human lives would be saved every year.
Why this happens is due to a couple of factors. With the change of clocks, the rhythm of commuting traffic changes and there are more cars in motion at dusk. Then the deer are already on the move.
The second point is biological. The rut season of deer falls in November, when deer bucks in particular are active hosts, as can be concluded from the main video of this story.
The problem was particularly acute on the US East Coast.
– Autumn has a really sharp spike, says Prugh from the University of Washington in Seattle.
In the western states, growth can also be seen, but it is not nearly as steep.
– On the east coast, the change of autumn falls in the middle of the white-tailed deer’s mating season. In addition to the fact that motorists are more active after dark, there are also more deer. The timing couldn’t be worse, Prugh states in the New Scientist publication.
Deer also collide in Finland
The white-tailed deer, or more recently the white-tailed deer, has become so abundant in Finland that its population is now estimated to be over a hundred thousand animals.
In the provincial accident statistics, animals collide with cars the most in Varsinais-Suomi and Uusimaa. Of course, the deer density area also falls in Etelä Häme, for example Vesilahti.
Varsinais-Suomi is a good comparison province because there are white-tailed deer in the whole province. The statistics do not strongly support the transition to winter time affecting the number of accidents, as deer accidents always happen the most in November.
This year’s data is still missing, but last year in Finland proper there were 85 deer crashes a week before the clocks were changed and 75 after (257 and 249 in the whole country). In 2020, the numbers would again show a clear effect: crashes in the week before the change of clocks 52 and after the change 63 (in the whole country in 2020: 169 and 213).
The annual variation is large, as in 2019 the figures were 61 and 66 (the whole country: 232 and 208), while in 2018 they were 51 and 60 (the whole country: 149 and 182). If you add up the above-mentioned years, then in the week after the transition to winter time, the growth in Finland proper will be 6 percent and in the whole country 5.6 percent.
The transfer of the clocks falls on week 44 at the end of October. According to information received from the insurance company If, the number of animal accidents reported there is decreasing.
– Oddly enough, that week actually stands out for the opposite reason than the mentioned study. Almost every year there have been fewer animal crashes in that week than in the adjacent weeks, i.e. 43 and 45. According to our statistics, the biggest spike in crashes has usually been in week 47.
In any case, motorists must be vigilant in November when moving in deer areas. For example, there is a saying in Vesilahti that there are two types of drivers: those who have driven a deer crash and those who will drive.