Time to beware of deer
With the arrival of November comes a sobering fact – in the next 30 days, the chances of striking a deer with your vehicle increase appreciably.
Really, it’s something drivers need to be wary of any time of year, particularly while traveling on roads that cut through dense, wooded areas. If you live in Washington and Greene counties, at some point or another, you’ve almost certainly seen deer milling at the side of a road, especially when traveling after dark. As if the reliable presence of bloody deer remains littering the sides of highways isn’t a sufficiently grim reminder, a New York City man was killed last month when traveling along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lehigh County when his car collided with a deer and it went through his windshield.
The first two weeks of November are the mating season for deer, and the animals, oblivious to traffic in even the best of circumstances, have other diversions on their minds. It should also be noted that Pennsylvania is among the top five states where you are most likely to hit a deer. West Virginia is the first.
To avoid colliding with a deer, special caution is recommended between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., when the largely nocturnal creatures are most likely to be out and about. The use of high beam headlights whenever possible is advised, as is heeding the deer crossing signs. Though it goes against our instincts, trying to swerve away from a deer could cause a much more severe mishap.
Be careful out there.