Deer–vehicle collisions

A deer–vehicle collision (DVC) occurs when one or more deer and a human-operated vehicle collide on a roadway. It can result in deer fatality, property damage, and human injury or death. The number of accidents, injuries, and fatalities varies from year to year and region. Each year in the United States, deer–vehicle collisions resulted in at least 59,000 human injuries and 440 human fatalities.

In 2000, of the 6.1 million lightweight motor vehicle collisions in the US, 1 million involved animal-vehicle collisions. Deer–vehicle collisions lead to about $1.1 billion in property damage every year. State and federal governments, insurance companies, and drivers spend an additional $3 billion in an effort to reduce and manage the increasing number of deer-vehicle collisions.

In Canada during 2000, there were nearly 29,000 animal-vehicle collisions resulting in property damage only, an additional 1,887 involving non-fatal injuries, and 23 fatal collisions.

In Germany, over 220,000 traffic collisions occur annually involving deer, over 1000 of which lead to human injuries and around 20 to human fatalities.