Be aware: The deer are out there

A deer dashing across an open meadow is a picture of grace and beauty. Those spindly legs at once project both power and frailty.

Frailty, however, is not what comes to mind when the front end of your car comes into contact with a deer and folds up like an accordion in the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately for drivers in Pennsylvania, the incidence of vehicle-meets-deer is all too frequent. A report just released by State Farm Insurance Co. ranks the state fourth - behind No. 1 West Virginia - in the number of auto insurance claims involving animal collision, mostly deer. Elk and moose also figure in the statistics. (Trust us when we say you never, ever want to hit a full-grown moose, a genuine threat for our neighbors in northern New England.)

Hitting a deer, even a small one, can be bad enough. Last year, the 3,487 collisions involving deer in Pennsylvania produced nine human fatalities. In Bucks, the 140 reported crashes resulted in no deaths. Likewise, there were no fatalities among the 118 collisions in Montgomery County.

Property damage is another story. Hitting a large or even a smaller animal in the road very often results in a vehicle repair bill in the thousands of dollars. Today's vehicles are designed to protect the occupants in the event of a collision. The trade-off is that the vehicle absorbs most or all of the impact, and it's not a pretty sight.

State Farm and other agencies offer a list of tips to avoid a run-in with a deer. One of the most critical is driving slower in areas where deer are apt to venture into the roadway, especially at night and on stretches of road bordered by woods or open fields. Of course, when you drive slower, you can incur the wrath of the guy behind you who's in a hurry. Our choice would be to risk an obscene gesture in the interest of preserving your car's body work.

If truth be told, sometimes a collision with a deer is simply unavoidable.

And there are very few truly "safe" roads where a deer strike is impossible.

You would expect deer to be a common hazard in rural areas.

But when development encroaches on animal habitat as it has around here, even heavily populated communities share the space with deer and other creatures.

Constant awareness is the best defense.

That and a willingness to take it easy on the speed. We're heading into that time of year when deer activity increases.

That means more animals on the move, and more chances to encounter one in the middle of the road.

The deer are out there. Drive accordingly.

- The (Doylestown) Intelligencer

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.