A state transportation official says the best way for a motorist to avoid getting hurt when a deer darts onto the road may be to hit it. Radio Iowa’s The last report of an Iowan getting killed in a deer/car collision was in 1995, but Iowa D-O-T traffic safety specialist Scott Falb says hundreds of people are hurt every year by trying to miss a deer, then swerving or skidding into a ditch, a tree or other cars. He says they sustain more serious injuries than if they’d hit the animal.Elizabeth Mosely is a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute. She says there were more than 12-thousand deer/car accidents reported in Iowa in 1998. Nationwide last year, there were 750-thousand deer/car accidents resulting in 120 deaths and thousands of injuries.Mosely has a few tips to avoid becoming a statistic. She says you should stay attentive and use your high beam lights.Although she reminds motorists to only use the high beams when there is no other traffic. In 1995, two people were killed in Iowa by swerving to avoid animals and causing wrecks. Also in that year, 565 people were injured in Iowa in car/deer collisions.
