By Hannah Citron
Courtney Fox, driving the windy roads of Williamsport, Pennsylvania one night, didn’t see the deer until it collided with her car. She’s known about the danger of deer on the roads, in fact, she’s hit one every year since 2022.
“Two of the three accidents I’ve been in were after 7 p.m. One was in late October and the other was in mid December.”
This time of year is called the rut which is another term for the mating season for deer. This timeframe is a recipe for disaster in Pennsylvania, as it is the most common time of year for collisions involving deer to occur.
“During the rut, it’s common for us to get three to five calls a week, but it depends on the week,” Ray Bossard, a retired 911 operator in Carbon County, said. “Bucks become ‘rut stupid’ and don’t pay attention to their surroundings. Some days in the fall we’ll get calls a couple times a day.”
Not only do these crashes occur frequently, but the damages can be devastating.
“Two of my accidents totaled my car. The third one luckily only damaged my side view mirror, but the other two were bad.” Fox said “The second accident was the scariest. The deer came up and broke my driver’s side window and I was unable to get out.”
Fox described the terror she faced as she crawled out the passenger side through the broken glass on her car seats.
“Nobody stopped to check on me or even just slow down and move into the left lane.”
This accident occurred on a highway, elevating the anxiety in that moment astronomically.
“My initial thoughts were not really thoughts, but emotions. I began crying and ultimately had two very long and stressful nights.”
Fox said she was lucky to have a family member that could help get her car out of the road instead of having to call a tow truck, an expensive and unfortunate result that most victims have to deal with.
“When you look at the number of doe tags the Pennsylvania Game Commission gives out, it really tells you how many more traffic accidents you get going South,” Bossard said. “Carbon County now gets about 55,000 doe tags per season, while Lehigh County gets about 70,000. Hopefully more hunters get deer than cars do.”
This connection shows to hold true, as the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation logged around 150 accidents involving deer in Lehigh County in 2024, while Carbon County only logged around 70 for that same year. With that in mind, Bucks County has also logged a whopping 242 crashes just last year. That’s more than the crashes logged in both Carbon and Lehigh Counties for 2024 combined.
Although it may seem like an uphill battle, there are still precautions drivers can take to ensure minimal damage to their cars and their wallets.
“Make sure to drive slower at night. Don’t overdrive your headlights,” Bossard warns
“My family pays additional on my insurance so that if my car is totaled, it gets paid off.” Fox commented after reflecting on her recurring accidents.
“Now, I try to avoid driving long distances at night time, especially during the rut, and I try to drive much slower.”
If after all of this you still find yourself in an accident involving a deer, don’t panic, says Bossard.
“If you have no choice. Just hit the deer. Don’t swerve, because most injuries sustained from accidents involving deer occur from a secondary accident after swerving.”
After you’ve hit the deer, give yourself a minute to calm down and check for injuries, then report it to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
“If you call 911, the operator can transfer you to the Game Commission.” Bossard said. “Sometimes people want to take the carcass if the deer they hit is dead so as to not waste the meat, but in that case you should still contact the Game Commission to report it.”
For more information, you can visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission and PennDOT’s websites respectively on what to do if you witness someone hit a deer, or if you hit one yourself.