Deer Collisions in Northwest Ohio

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 14:47:32 GMT

If you travel the roads throughout northwest Ohio, chances are you have encountered deer. Whether it's on a sparsely traveled county road or a heavily traveled highway like US 224 or I-75, we must always be on the look-out for deer.

While deer collisions can happen throughout the year, most occur during the months of October through January, which is the mating season (the annual rut). Deer leave their habitats with one thing on their mind and pay little attention to traffic. In fact, American drivers collide with deer nearly 2 million times a year, and these collisions cause an average of nearly $3,900 in damage to vehicles. As bad as those figures are, the injuries and deaths from deer collisions are even worse. Last year, collisions with animals caused the deaths of 3 Ohioans and injured 980 more.

Avoiding Deer Collisions

You can’t completely prevent collisions with deer, but here are a few steps you can take to help avoid them:

Anticipate

The vast majority of deer claims can be avoided if you have enough time to brake. If you’re driving your vehicle at 60 miles per hour, you are covering 88 feet per second, and stopping your vehicle will take 4.5 seconds and require 304 feet of clear road (an entire football field!); reducing your speed to 45 miles per hour reduces the distance you cover each second to 66 feet and requires just 196 feet of clear road. If it’s raining or snowing, these stopping distances nearly double! Deer tend to follow the same paths, so simply driving slower in areas where they cross the road can prevent most collisions. Slow down!

Awareness

Highways often have areas where deer tend to roam marked with signs:

When you see these signs, slow down and look for deer approaching the highway. This is particularly important at dusk, through the night, and at dawn, when the deer are most active and when your ability to see is reduced. Also, pay attention to areas where you see deer carcasses, as there may be live deer nearby.

Watch for the Herd

Deer often roam in groups and when one crosses in front of your car, there are most likely others. Therefore, when you see one deer, be aware that you may encounter many more.

Apply Brakes, Don't Swerve

You are much less likely to be injured if you brake to minimize a collision with a deer versus swerving to avoid it instead. This is counter intuitive: your first reaction when your lane is blocked is to go into the left lane or swerve onto the shoulder. During deer season, remind yourself: Brake, Don’t Swerve!

Most of the deer accident claims I have handled where my clients are injured occurred because they swerved to avoid colliding with a deer, and swerving into an oncoming vehicle can turn a simple collision into a serious liability claim for damages or injuries.

If You Hit a Deer, Here's What to Do

First, if you can do so safely, pull your vehicle off the roadway to avoid being struck by oncoming traffic. Then, call the local police or sheriff so they can make a report and help to arrange for a tow truck if you can't drive your car or truck.

Next, call your auto insurance company, or if you are a Kersh Insurance customer, contact our office to make a report. You can also call the toll-free number on your insurance ID card if the accident occurs after business hours. The auto insurance companies we represent all maintain a 24/7 claims line, so you can reach us day or night. We’ll get an adjuster assigned to your claim immediately, and get your vehicle back on the road as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about deer collisions or any other insurance issue, please contact us by calling 419-523-5000, send a message here from our website , or stop by our office in downtown Ottawa, Ohio.

Taking care of you is our business, and we appreciate your trust and friendship!

Do You Remember The Great Derecho of 2012 in Northwest Ohio?

tony@bright.net (Tony Schroeder) — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 02:38:21 GMT

June 29, 2012 Was a Day That Showed Us How Unexpected Events Happen and Why Quality Insurance is Important Protection

Insurance is a bit like having an airbag in your truck - you know you need it, but you’re not sure when, and you’d just as soon not find out. This is a retelling of the day many people “found out” about the quality of their insurance policy: June 29, 2012, the day of the Great Derecho .

Beginning of The Storm

Friday, June 29, 2012 started like a day typical of the summer of 2012 - hot, dry, and sunny. Those placid conditions changed rapidly as a cluster of rapidly intensifying thunderstorms formed near South Bend, Indiana, and began to move towards Ohio. Conditions were perfect that afternoon for the formation of a derecho, the name the National Weather Service gives to a long-lived line of thunderstorms that causes damage in a path at least 240 miles long.

The line of storms was nearly 50 miles wide as it approached Fort Wayne at between 40 and 50 miles per hour, and winds at ground level were already gusting at close to 90 miles an hour. The airport at Fort Wayne measured a gust at 91 miles an hour at 3:00pm, and the when the announcer on WOWO Radio, which I was monitoring for damage reports mentioned as much, I knew two things: we were going to get it, and get it soon.

Power Goes Out

By 3:30, western Putnam County was receiving the brunt of this monster storm, and by 3:40, the wind was howling in Ottawa. I had just shut down the computer server to avoid having to deal with potential lightning damage when I saw the trees along Main Street begin to bend and the front door was sucked open by a tremendous rush of the wind. Securing it, I watched, fascinated, at all manner of debris flowing to the east down Main Street, as though on the way to Findlay (in a sense, it was!). Plastic barrels bounced past, tumbling and spinning, accompanied by large flower pots rolling along, tree limbs and branches of all sizes, shingles and bit of shingles, and finally an entire section of standing seam metal roofing which clattered by and came to rest wrapped around the clock in front of the Courthouse. Then the power went out, and soon after, the raging wind began to subside.

Wind Intensity

Later estimates of damage done by the National Weather Service showed that winds of near 100 miles per hour in velocity struck Putnam County, causing damage comparable to that seen in an EF1 rated tornado, but over an area dozens of miles wide. One of my clients experienced the speed of the damage occurring first-hand: he was working on a piece of equipment on the edge of his field when he heard the first howls of the gusting winds. As he looked up, he saw trees in a woods about 100 yards away begin to bend and sway, and he turned and ran for the house, reaching it just as the first bits of shingle debris from the roof that used to be on his outbuilding began striking him in the back and neck.

Aftermath of The Storm

I couldn’t see the widespread nature of the damage from my now quiet and darker office, but I knew disaster had struck, and we had to organize to help our clients. The cellular phone network was still operating, barely, and it was very difficult to make or receive phone calls for an hour or two, but I managed to get my incoming calls transferred to my cell phone, and boy, did it start ringing! I ran home to check on my wife and daughter, noticing that half of one of my pine trees was missing along with half a chimney and a couple of yards of shingles, and then the first call came in - a client had just hooked up their camper and was preparing to head to the lake when the storm struck. When I arrived at his house, the camper was on its side and the rear of the truck was raised off the ground a couple of feet.

Hundreds of Insurance Claims

That client was the first of many we would take care of during the first part of July, at first by lantern and generator lighting. By the evening of the day after the storm, I delivered 50 handwritten loss reports to one of my adjusters who lived near Columbus Grove, and that number would continue to grow, until we had nearly 275 claims reported from this single storm.

I have always been glad that I represented insurance companies with adjusters who lived nearby, and the aftermath of the Great Derecho proved their value, as they were in contact with my clients and writing initial claims checks within hours of the end of the storm. Two of my companies, Erie Insurance Group and Hastings Mutual Insurance Company, sent additional claims adjusters to stay in the area for a couple of weeks to handle the large number of claims rapidly, and both of the companies granted expanded authority to their agents to handle claims, so I was able to settle over 80 of them without even requiring the visit of an adjuster.

Claims Settled and Checks Written Quickly

Despite the number and severity of the claims presented, I’m proud to say that all but a handful of my clients had their claims settled and had checks in-hand within ten days of the storm hitting us. The companies I represent paid out nearly $3,000,000 in losses to my clients, and did so rapidly and fairly. I’m proud of how we took care of our clients after the Great Derecho, and that when they “found out” about the quality of their insurance coverage, they were glad they had trusted us to take care of them.

Contact Us for a Free Insurance Quote

If you would like to learn more about how we can serve your auto, home, life, or business insurance needs and receive free quotes, please contact us by calling 419-523- 5000 or send us a website message at any time.

We’ll be glad to take care of you, too!

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