Page 6A
Friday, November 22, 1996
Bird's EyeView
During the past year in Kansas, 6,737crashes,239 injuries,and two deaths were caused by deer that were
Story by Stephanie Fite
For most people, the season of love is in the spring for deer, it's in the fall. And mating season causes deer to become a greater hazard for drivers.
This fall the Kansas Highway Patrol is cautioning drivers to avoid traveling at night if possible.
"Deer are nocturnal animals and most of the car accidents involving deer occur at night," said John Eichhorn, trooper for the Kansas Highway Patrol in Topeka.
Collisions with deer are on the rise in Douglas County, up 25 percent since last year and up nearly 50 percent since 1991. Similarly, for the past five years, accidents involving deer increased 32 percent in Johnson County.
Steve Tramba, Lenexa senior, was involved in one of the 6,737 car-deer crashes reported in Kansas in the past year. In these accidents 239 people were injured, two people died and more than $26 million was paid by insurance companies.
Tramba hit a deer at night on Kansas Highway 10, between Lawrence and Kansas City.
"Nobody was hurt, the only damage was to the car," Tramba said. "The whole grill on the front right side was smashed in." He estimated the car's damage at $4,000.
The deer flipped on top of the hood on impact, and hit the passenger door before it disappeared.
Tramba said that because of the darkness, he couldn't see the deer until it was too late.
"I think I gave it a little whiplash, "Tramba said. "By the time I hit the brakes, we had already clobbered it. But I don't know if we killed it because it ran off."
Dianne Johnson, director of Operation Wildlife, said the increase in accidents involving deer was due to an increasing number of people who had built homes in the woods.
"Basically, we have more deer sightings in this state because we continue to build our homes in their homes," she said. "Because they are not able to sustain their territories, deer are pushed into becoming transient. It is a really sad state when we, in our search to find something new, make the animals fight for their position in nature."
Sightings of wild animals in urban areas is increasing along with the number of accidents involving animals. in eastern Kansas, wild animal sightings have more than tripled since 1911, said Linda Hollford, Animal Control
Illustration byMicah Laaker
officer for the Kansas Highway Patrol in Topeka
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But this isn't unique to Kansas. Last November in Boston, a moose was spotted in a downtown plaza. That same month in Detroit, a retired couple was surprised by a visitor they described as a brown bullet that crashed through their front window, ran through the front room, down the hallway and out the back door.
Closer to home, a deer wandered through Topeka this summer and ended up in a Bank IV lobby. Because the deer sliced its jugular vein on a three-inch shard of razor-sharp glass, animal control officers killed the animal.
When animals are executed in the public eye like that, the Kansas Animal Control Center in Topeka hears from concerned citizens.
"We usually get a lot of hate calls and letters from people who just don't understand," Holford said. "Just as Topeka is growing, so is Lawrence. Now, they are almost connected. Suddenly, there are houses where the animals used to live. The more we build, the more we take over their land."
Craig Johnson, biologist technician for the department of wildlife and parks, said deer population was controlled by hunters.
"Hunting season is the only way to keep the population at a manageable level to keep the deer healthy," he said. "During mating season, deer are blinded by hormones with the urge to breed and are not really aware of their surroundings."
Because deer eat a large amount of soybeans, corn and wheat, if there are too many deer they starve, Johnson said.
Brendt Eberherdt, Lawrence resident, said that in the past he hadn't thought about deer when he traveled Kansas Highway 40, which winds for about 20 miles between Lawrence and Topeka.
"I just don't do it," he said. "I was in the middle of nowhere and had to pull in at the nearest house to call the police."
However, five years after an accident with a deer, he still refuses to travel the road.
Eberhardt said he had not been hurt but that his car had been totalled.
a lot of fun. Now I try not to go to Topeka."
Although car-deer accidents occur throughout the year, the highest number of accidents occur in mid-November to late December, Holford said.
"It was like someone took a big foot and pushed the hood back," he said. "I used to think taking the road was
"They can hurt you, they can kill you, they can kick you, they can break your neck, your legs or your arms. They can rip you wide open with their hooves," she said. "People rarely understand wildlife. They've got this Bambi thing going on."
Despite his accident, Tramba said he still traveled K-10 three or four times a month.
"It's really wild because this is something you normally don't think about until it happens," he said. "It's one of the two main ways to get back to Kansas City and it's also the quickest. It was a little unnerving at first but after I drove on the road for a while, the feeling went away."
For Eberherd, however, fear of the unexpected keeps him in at night.
"If I have to drive at night, or if I have to go to Topeka, I only go during the day. If I have to go at night, I won't go," he said.
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