We are nearing the most dangerous month of the year for certain kinds of traffic crashes.

It happened more than 34-hundred times last year, more than half of them from September through December. In 276 of those crashes, somebody was injured. Five people died….when vehicles and deer came together on the highway.

The conservation department says more than half of the crashes happened on state highways. More than 80 percent happened on wet highways. Twenty-three percent of the crashes happened in November alone.

Conservation Department deer biologist Lonnie Hanson says deer move more at this time of year because it’s breeding season, and they move over wider areas.

Every year, conservation and traffic safety officials tell motorists not to try to avoid the collision… "Just nail ’em," he says. But he admits it might be hard to do that because the natural reaction is to swerve–an action that can lead to a more serious crash.

Should drivers duck when they see a collision coming? Probably not, he says, because the driver needs to maintain control as much as possible. Only rarely, he says, does a deer end up in the lap of the front seat passengers.

Download Bob Priddy’s story (:65 mp3]