Last week, Perth County OPP responded to 27 crashes between vehicles and deer – including 10 in one day, all before noon.
“Considering Perth County’s size and population and number of vehicles, that’s high. That’s extremely high,” Const. Kees Wijnands tells CTV News.
In another crash last week, an ambulance travelling down Highway 23 south of Kirkton struck a deer.
No injuries were reported, but the deer was killed and the ambulance had to be towed away.
OPP say 2013 is on track to see more deer collisions than the 202 experienced in 2012.
No serious injuries to humans have been reported in any of the crashes, but many cars have been damaged.
Mike Oliver of Al’s Auto Body outside Stratford estimates that between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of his recent customers have damaged their vehicles by crashing into deer.
Repairing deer damage can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on the specifics of the crash.
“It depends on the speed, how fast they’re travelling, where it hits,” says Oliver.
Wijnands says the best way to avoid crashing into deer is to slow down and be aware of the surroundings, but some crashes with deer are unavoidable – and attempts to avoid them can lead to injured drivers.
“Don’t try to be the hero and try to get around the animal,” he says.
“It’s when the drivers try to avoid that deer (that) they end up into the ditch, roll the vehicle, strike a tree, hit a post.”
Most deer collisions occur at dawn or dusk, but Wijnands says all periods of the day have seen crashes this fall.
