Deer collisions in Pa. increase following fall time change

According to PennEnvironment Research Policy Center, collisions between vehicles and deer increase by about 16% in the weeks following the fall clock change. Stephanie Wein, Clean Water and Conservation Advocate with PennEnvironment, says several factors contribute to the increase. “We’re driving more at night, and there’s always more car crashes at night when visibility is lower. But animals actually get used to our patterns. And so they could be expecting to see traffic taper off or ramp up at a certain time, and they base their movement through the area on those patterns. So when we start driving an hour earlier, an hour later, we surprise them too.” The time change also coincides with deer breeding season, when white-tailed deer are particularly active as they search for mates. Pennsylvania is consistently vulnerable to wildlife collisions. Wein says more than 140,000 claims were filed with State Farm last year involving animal-vehicle crashes in the state. That figure doesn’t in