Alcohol and speeding are seldom reported in crashes involving deer whereas in about 30 percent of fatal crashes alcohol is involved. Half the accidents occurred among drivers ages 26 to 45, and almost 60 percent of such drivers were male. Almost three-fourths occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., and half took place between October and December. Since we re now in the period when deer are out foraging and moving around more, we hope drivers will be especially careful driving at night and on secondary roads. N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles records enable the UNC-CH scientists to study police narratives via computer and thus discover recurring driving problems, he said.
Few states have such good computerized records.
North Carolina s deer population now stands at between 950,000 and 1 million animals, said Scott Osborne, big game program coordinator at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. In 1910, only 10,000 deer roamed the state, and in 1980, there were about 350,000. Besides the 202,000 deer taken by hunters in 1999, unknown thousands of others died after being hit by cars and trucks, Osborne said. In a lot of accidents, deer are not killed and often not even injured. Bucks become aggressive and territorial during the fall rut, driving away younger male competitors.