Deer-vehicle collisions: Bucking the trend

There’s more than one way to bag a buck — or a doe. For motorists, that’s the costly and life threatening reality of driving on America’s roadways. Erie Insurance is one of the few insurance carriers that tracks deer collision claims and uses the information to help policyholders.

“We’ve been reviewing data since 1999, focusing on how to reduce collisions and keep people safe,” says Darrin Birtciel, a rate analyst at Erie Insurance. “We look at frequency, location, severity and total costs.”

According to claims information collected and analyzed by Erie Insurance, one in every 100 drivers nationally is likely to have a collision with a deer. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that deer-vehicle crashes rack up $1.1 billion in property damages, tens of thousands of injuries, and more than 200 deaths every year.

“Reducing the number of collisions not only prevents injuries and saves lives, it also helps control the cost of insurance,” says Birtciel.

For the past six years Erie Insurance has worked to buck the trend of deer/vehicle collisions, with aggressive efforts to warn policyholders and the general public about the hazard, how to try to avoid such encounters and when and where they are most likely to occur. The company provides tips directly to its customers through its policyholder magazine, and also shares that information nationally through press releases and alliances with a number of trade and government associations. The company has also produced a public service announcement that is made available to the media and posted on its web site. In addition, ERIE’s network of independent agents helps spread the safe driving message with their own communications to policyholders and their local communities.

Based on a continued downward trend in deer/vehicle claims reported by Erie Insurance policyholders, the awareness campaign is working. The company’s latest report shows ERIE’s deer claim frequency declined for the fourth straight year and now stands at its lowest level in seven years.

In the past year, ERIE saw a 6 percent decline in deer claim frequency. This is the fourth consecutive year that deer claim frequency declined, and the second straight year that the actual number of deer claims declined. ERIE’s deer claim frequency has improved 23 percent during the past four years. In ERIE’s operating states for 2005, there were 10 deer claims for every 1000 vehicles the company insured.

Still, deer pose a serious and ever-present threat to drivers. ERIE’s paid losses from deer collision claims totaled $54.6 million in the company’s marketing territory for 2005, and that was nearly $2 million lower than in 2004. The average cost of a deer claim increased by 4 percent to $2,200. However, Erie Insurance saw a 9 percent company-wide decline in the number of deer claims during the peak months of October – December.
Source: Erie Insurance Group