Where deer crashes happen around Bloomington and how to prevent them
Over the last 20 years there were more deer involved in collisions with vehicles in Monroe County, Indiana than either pedestrians or cyclists.
Here's a heatmap of the areas with the highest rates of deer-involved crashes from 2003-2022 around Bloomington. Best viewed on a desktop monitor.
The map reveals patterns of where crashes of deer are most likely. They happen more often when deer habitat is adjacent to faster, busier roads. Crashes with deer have happened most in the SR 37 corridor and along the bypass.
When do most deer-vehicle collisions happen?
Deer-vehicle collisions are most likely when at dawn and dusk when deer are most active. Here you can see the time of day that crashes with deer are more likely to happen throughout the year. Crashes with deer are highest between September through December, peaking in November.
These crashes are expensive, too: Deer-car collisions cost an average of $8,190, taking into consideration human injuries and death, towing, vehicle repair, investigation of the accident by local authorities, and carcass disposal, according to a paper from the Western Transportation Institute (WTI) at Montana State University.
Are Cyclists and Pedestrians Hitting Deer?
In the twenty years of crash data reviewed, there are no recorded cases of crashes involving both cyclists and deer.
There are two recorded crashes involving both deer and pedestrians, but the crash report data seems suspect. For example, a crash at 5:16 AM involving two vehicles, a pedestrian and deer. Unless the pedestrian was riding the deer at the time, it seems more likely someone mis-checked a box on the crash report.
What was clear from both reports was that there was a car involved. Rest easy knowing that it's unlikely that a deer will crash into you while walking.
Were there really more deer involved in crashes than cyclists or pedestrians?
Yes. Over the same approximately twenty-year period, there were 1,040 crashes recorded involving deer in Monroe County, 940 involving pedestrians and 722 involving cyclists.
If there were safer ways for deer to cross the streets, particularly the interstate, it would could reduce a lot of crashes. If you've driven through the I-64 tunnel in Louisville, Kentucky, then you've visited a facility like that. Above the tunnels is not another road, but green space. The Cochran Hill tunnel was installed in 1974 as part of an environmentally sensitive transportation design. Here's what it looks like from above:
Wildlife crossings, also called ecoducts, don't have to be applied sparingly, either. The Netherlands has over 600 of them. Hikers and cyclists are allowed to use some of them as well. Here are some other examples of wildlife crossings that could help deer and others cross roads risking vehicular death and insurance claims they can't afford.
Look to spot more wildlife crossings on your next road trip. The Biden administration approved $110 million dollars in funding for 19 more wildlife crossings across 17 states. Here's a map of where they will go:
There's about $5.8 million per wildlife crossing. For just Monroe County, these deer crashes alone have cost an estimated $8.5 million dollars over the last 20 years. (That's the 1,040 crashes costing an average of $8,190 per crash).
Research has found that wildlife crossings are effective. A representative from the Westen Transportation Institute reported 85 to 95 percent reductions in wildlife crashes. while search from the Federal Highway department found wildlife crossings to be ≥ 80% effective.
While it might take more than one interstate wildlife crossing in Monroe County to put in a big dent in our crash rate, we will spend another $8.5 million on crashes over the next twenty years without them. Despite being an unconventional transportation feature in the US today, the math works out for wildlife crossings to save money over their lifespan as well as being a compassionate solution.
As long as we don't build wildlife crossings, animals will continue to find ways to cross the roads, and their solutions won't always work out the best for us.
Where's the best place for a wildlife bridge in Monroe County?
The corridor with the highest rate of crashes involving deer in Monroe County is on SR 37, south of Bloomington. See here how there's a continuous stream of crash locations there. You can see around some intersections there have been more than a dozen crashes.
When the crashes are overlaid on satellite imagery, it's easier to see why. To the east is the huge expanse of Hoosier National Forest. To the west of SR 37 there are also nature preserves and wooded areas.
I hit a deer. Can I keep the meat or donate it?
In Indiana, you have the right to keep the deer for your own use with the proper permit. A local or state police officer, DNR conservation officer, DNR district biologist, or DNR property manager can issue permits to legally possess the deer.
Don't be like Joe and make sure the deer is completely dead before you load it in your back seat.
As of 2024, there is one registered deer processor in Monroe County, KW Custom Deer Processing. You can call them and tell them on your way with your deer in the back seat at (812) 824-2494. If you don't need a freezer full of meat, KW partners with the Sportsman Benevolance Fund and Hunt for the Hungry to make sure the meat does not go to waste and finds it way to a local community food back at no cost to you.
Should we add more deer crossing signs?
Some people have suggested that a solution to reduce crashes with deer is to add more "Deer Crossing" signs or to move them to more optimal locations.
Donna is one citizen that voiced her concern about sub-optimal locations of deer crossing signs. Why not move the signs to lower traffic areas? Or would adding more signs on the Interstate and the bypass help?
Sam Evans-Brown investigated and found that "study after study has shown there’s not good evidence that you'll slow down after seeing a sign warning of a danger that will appear only very rarely. It might work the first time you drive that stretch of road, but eventually, the warning just becomes wallpaper."
That guidance is consistent with what we hear from the City of Bloomington's engineering staff about other kinds of signs, like stop signs and speed limit signs. More signs do not necessarily equate to greater safety.
The one foolproof way to reduce the incidence and severity of crashes is to slow down when driving, making the streets a safer place for you as well as the deer, pedestrians, and cyclists we share with them.
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