Deer vehicle collisions

USDA is working to reduce the number of deer-vehicle collisions. (Stephanie Ho and John Eisemann, USDA Wildlife Services)

Deer vehicle collisions have been a problem in the United States for decades, deer populations are growing, vehicle collisions are increasing. John Eisman with USDA's Wildlife Services points to technology USDA researchers have developed to address the issue.

Their idea was to take a light and illuminate the front of the vehicle so the deer on the side of the road at night doesn't see just two spots of light coming at them. They see a much larger surface of light coming at them, which is the whole front of the vehicle.

He says he thinks this kind of research tested technology will be easy to incorporate in existing automobiles if it really proves to work like we think it will.

This could be an option that you could request when you purchase a car just like heated seats. If you live in Michigan or Maryland or gear, car collisions are frequent, more frequent than other places. Who knows, maybe someday auto manufacturers will offer this as an option already built into the car.

Travis DeVault, University of Georgia senior research scientist, says lighting up the front of a car has been tested, and works -- unlike others that are on the market.The only other vehicle based collision mitigation device or system that is in existence that I'm aware of that's designed to get deer out of your way are these deer whistles which have been around for quite a lot of years now, which are attached on the bumper and are supposed to make a sound that scares the deer away from the road. And there have been two studies done looking at the success of those devices. And the results have been that they don't seem to work at all. So to our knowledge, this is the only device like it that has been shown to work to reduce the likelihood of a deer collision.