Nov 12, 2019 4 min read

Orange cone season is in the rear-view mirror, but deer season is all around us.

November is the peak month for deer-related crashes across Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Those counties comprise Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 12, in which 920 out of 4,116 deer-related crashes (22.35%) from 2009 through 2018 took place in the month of November alone, according to PennDOT data.

November brought the greatest number of deer-related crashes of all months to each of the four counties in District 12 over that 10-year stretch.

November marks the height of breeding season, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and Jay Ofsanik, PennDOT District 12 safety press officer, noted that hunters stir up deer this time of year as well.

Jimmy Stewart, owner of Stewart Collision Service in Uniontown, recently counted five dead deer along Route 40 between Hopwood and Markleysburg, and this is the season for deer-impacted vehicles winding up in his collision repair shop.

Stewart knows from 45 years of experience not to ask customers, “Oh, you hit a deer?” because the response will be, “No, it hit me.”

He also knows how hard it can be for motorists to avoid colliding with a deer.

“Usually, there’s nothing you can do,” Stewart said.

Ofsanik knows it’s tough, too, especially since the end of daylight saving time in early November means more darkness and less visibility to see deer ahead.

But Ofsanik noted that drivers can still take steps to protect themselves like slowing down at night, being more cautious in areas where they know deer are more likely to be and watching for other deer to appear.

“If you see one, there’s a real good chance that there’s more,” Ofsanik said.

AAA recommends being especially attentive in early morning and evening hours, using high beams when there’s no oncoming traffic, and resisting the urge to swerve, as swerving away from animals can confuse them and put motorists in the path of oncoming vehicles or cause them to crash into something else.

Deer-related crashes, which PennDOT defines as collisions in which a vehicle strikes a deer or following a driver taking evasive action due to a deer appearing in a roadway, have increased in District 12 in the past decade.

There were 1,933 deer-related crashes in Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties from 2009 through 2013, a total that jumped 12.9% to 2,183 from 2014 through 2018.

The rise in deer-related crashes in Fayette County comes amid a slight overall decrease of the post-hunt deer population in the two wildlife management units that comprise most of District 12.

The combined post-hunt deer population of wildlife management units 2A and 2C increased from 132,508 in 2008 to 130,674 in 2019, a 1.4% downtick, according a 2019 report by the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Bureau of Wildlife Management.

General hunting license sales decreased rapidly nearly across the board from 2008 to 2018, including sales for nearly every single deer hunting license, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Pennsylvania ranked third among all 50 states in claims from a collision with an animal between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, according to State Farm. West Virginia topped the list.

Unfortunately for area motorists, deer collisions are as costly as they are common.

AAA Insurance reports that its average deer-related claim in the region is about $3,500, though costs can be much higher depending on the damage to a vehicle.

If your vehicle collides with an animal, AAA recommends calling the police, avoiding making contact with the animal, putting the vehicle’s hazard lights on whether it’s light or dark outside, moving the vehicle out of the roadway if possible until help arrives and contacting your insurance agent or company representative as quickly as possible to report any damage to your vehicle.

So watch your speed and the road – and know that in Southwestern Pennsylvania, the road ahead is never yours alone.

“They’re out there. They’re always going to be out there,” Ofsanik said of deer. ” … Be prepared to share the road.”