On the afternoon of Sunday, October 25th, a twenty-eight year old St. Louis man sustained moderately-serious injuries when he encountered a deer in the roadway on I-70 East at mile marker 152.8 in Calloway County. The driver swerved to miss the animal, then ran off of the roadway, hitting several trees in the process. He was transported from the scene to University Hospital in Columbia for medical treatment. No other vehicles were involved, according to reports from the accident investigation conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Accidents involving deer are fairly common in Mid-Missouri during “rutting season,” which spans the months of October, November, and December. With this season comes an increase in deer movement, which creates more hazardous road conditions and increases the risk of accident. According to the Missouri Department of Insurance, there were 3,720 accidents involving deer in Missouri in 2014; 374 injuries resulted. This translates to approximately one incident per every 2.4 hours.
Drivers can mitigate the risk of accidents involving deer by following a few basic safety guidelines. Some of the top recommendations made by the Missouri Department of Conservation include:
- Avoid driving at dusk and at dawn if possible—these are the times of day deer-involved accidents are most likely to occur.
- Be aware of roads that deer are most likely to cross, and be as cautious as possible when traveling on them.
- Brake, don’t swerve. The accident will likely be less severe if the driver stays in the original lane of transit; attempting to change lanes quickly can easily cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
Further information regarding the prevention of deer-involved accidents and deer-involved injury accident representation by the law offices of Price & Randle can be found at the following website:
Citations and Additional Resources:
- https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/HP68/AccidentDetailsAction?ACC_RPT_NUM=150664963
- http://www.lakenewsonline.com/article/20151026/NEWS/151029174/?Start=1
- https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/MSHPWeb/SAC/pdf/2011DeerReport.pdf
- http://www.kmzu.com/callaway-county-single-vehicle-accident-driver-injured/