October to December is peak season in the Northeast for car-versus-deer collisions, according to the American Automobile Association, and East Hampton Town is right in the middle of it.
Town police reported six crashes involving deer during the week of Oct. 15 to Oct. 21, the most of the season so far. Three of them happened on Route 27 and two others on Route 114.
The sixth, on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk, occurred after a driver hit the brakes upon seeing a deer ahead and the car behind ran into it.
The most recent set of police reports, covering Oct. 21 through Monday, shows three more collisions. One was at the Edgemere Street and Industrial Road hotspot in Montauk; the other two in East Hampton, on Stephen Hand’s Path near Long Lane — another hotspot — and off Pantigo Road near Pantigo Place.
Separately, East Hampton Village police reported that an ambulance struck a deer on Oct. 23 while transporting a man accused of drunken driving to the hospital. That incident is covered separately on the police news page.
East Hampton Town has tracked crashes involving deer from 2010 to 2019. Montauk has had a particularly high volume, with that same Edgemere Street-Industrial Road intersection recording over a dozen incidents. Just north of there, Flamingo Road’s intersections with Fleming Avenue and Farragut Road were also common crash sites. Farther west, there were numerous collisions along much of Cedar Street in East Hampton and on Springs-Fireplace Road.
The data collected for the town map does not include deer carcasses found on state roads such as Routes 27 or 114, nor does it factor in those killed in the villages of East Hampton or Sag Harbor.
In Suffolk County last year, there were 1,448 car crashes involving animals, the most since at least 2018 and the third most in New York State. Statewide, deer are the culprit in 88 percent of crashes involving animals.
In an email, Aphrodite Montalvo, a public participation specialist at the State Department of Environmental Conservation, provided several tips for drivers to avoid deer on the roads. First, she said, drivers should decrease speed when spotting a deer by the roadside, as it might “bolt” at any time. Second, deer travel in groups, so if just one is crossing the road, drivers should be wary; another could be on the way. Next, to warn other drivers of deer nearby, the D.E.C. advises flashing the car’s bright lights. Lastly, deer are most often on the move at dawn and again at dusk, so drivers should be especially careful at those times.
Should you strike a deer, Ms. Montalvo advised, pull over to the side of the road with the hazard lights on. Police should be alerted should an injured or dead animal pose a threat to other drivers. If the collision caused more than $1,000 in property damage, an official crash report must be submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles. If the vehicle seems unsafe for a return to the road — leaking fluids, damaged tires, broken lights, etc. — then the driver should also call for a tow truck.
“Many Long Island residents, farmers, and municipal leaders have identified deer abundance as an acute problem in their communities and have expressed concern about deer-vehicle collisions, damage to agricultural crops and landscape plantings, and ecological damage to Long Island woodlands,” Ms. Montalvo said, noting that the D.E.C. works with landowners, local organizations, and municipalities to address the problem. Each region in the state has its own deer biologist, who, she said, is available to meet with municipalities to discuss dealing with the “nuisance.”
In addition, she said, State Farm, the insurance company, releases an annual nationwide report on animal crash incidents, based on data from various sources. In September, the company reported that New York drivers have a one-in-159 chance of striking an animal, making the state 33rd in the country for probability. For comparison, West Virginia was first: Drivers there have a one-in-40 chance, according to State Farm, of being involved in an animal crash. In Montana, which ranked second, the odds are one in 54.
AAA Northeast reported 35,496 crashes involving animals in New York State last year. Of those, 1,549 resulted in injury; nine resulted in death.
