Remember that elk are darker and often harder to see at night than brownish-gray deer. Slow down, especially in winter driving conditions. The slower you drive, the more time you have to react to animals on the road. If you hit an animal, you can receive a free permit to take the animal home from the Colorado State Patrol or Colorado Division of Wildlife. You can also add your name to a list so that when troopers respond to an accident and the driver does not want the animal s meat, you will be contacted and asked if you want to take it away.
Some drivers escape accidents with only crushed fenders and broken windshields.
Other times cars are destroyed and the people in them die, McGuire said. The most damaging is the elk, but they re all devastating. They do kill people. One likely explanation for the increase is that, unlike last year at this time, heavy snow has fallen and forced some of the deer and elk into lower elevations where they are more likely to cross traffic-ridden highways, said Melody Miller, district wildlife manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. It s been cold and snowy, so they are coming to lower grounds.