The Effect of the Deer Population on the Number of Car Accidents

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby Volume 3 | Issue 1 Article 14 2016 The Effect of the Deer Population on the Number of Car Accidents Timothy J. Hallock Jr Colby College, Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/jerec Part of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, Agricultural Economics Commons, Economics Commons, Forest Management Commons, and the Natural Resource Economics Commons Recommended Citation Hallock, Timothy J. Jr (2016) "The Effect of the Deer Population on the Number of Car Accidents," Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1 , Article 14. Available at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/jerec/vol3/iss1/14 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. For more information, please contact . The Effect of the Deer Population on the Number of Car Accidents Abstract This paper examines the relationship between the deer population and the number of car accidents in New York State from 2002-2012. Data collected includes information on the amount of deer hunted, the number of car accidents, and the number of hunting permits issued. This paper also involves a county level analysis within New York State of 56 counties from 2007 - 2012. An important part of analysis of this paper is the examination of the Buck population vs. the Doe population on the number of car accidents. This is an important study because of its possible policy implications regarding the amount of deer hunting permits that should be distributed, and its effects on the deer population and the amount of car accidents. Keywords car accidents, deer, permits This article is available in Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/jerec/vol3/ iss1/14 Hallock: Deer Population and Car Accidents THIS ARTICLE IS IN DRAFT FORM Introduction: New Yorker’s true neighbors are in fact the White-Tailed Deer. With an abundant population, deer are seemingly ubiquitous. Because of their thriving population, car accidents are unfortunately common and drivers must always be on the look out for one to dash across the road at any moment. If left unattended, the deer population could escalate out of control causing more problems for drivers and could throw off the balance in the ecosystem. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) attempts to limit the deer population through the issuance of hunting permits. The DEC adjusts the number of permits they issue year to year in order to achieve the desired effect on the deer population. If they want to reduce the number of deer in the population, they will issue more hunting permits the following year. My hypothesis is that an increase in the amount of deer killed in New York State will lead to a reduction in the amount of car accidents caused by deer. In theory, the more hunting permits that are issued by the DEC, will lead to more deer being taken by hunters in that season, which would lead to less deer out on the road that could possibly be hit by a car. This is an important topic because reducing the amount of car accidents caused by deer will lead to less injuries for the people driving the car, and would also save these people money because if they aren’t hitting the deer their car is not going to be damaged or possibly even totaled. Another reason for controlling the deer population is to keep the ecosystem in equilibrium. Too high of a deer population could lead to the deer venturing out of the woods even more and result in them grazing and eating expensive landscaping outside of homes. Previous Literature: Other studies have looked at alternative ways of reducing the amount of deer-vehicle crashes (DVC’s), besides reducing the deer population. Three approaches that James H. Hedlund, Paul D. Curtis, Gwen Curtis, and Allan F. Williams study in their paper, “Methods to Reduce Traffic Crashes Involving Deer: What Works and What Does Not” include modifying driver behavior, modifying deer behavior, or reducing the number of deer. Some methods for effecting drivers behavior include better education of the driver, whether it be through more published news articles about DVC’s, or putting up signs in areas where deer are commonly known to dart across the road. However, altering deer behavior seems to be a more effective way to reduce the amount of DVC’s on the road. Numerous studies over the past years have indicated that properly designed and maintained fencing, used together with appropriate underpass, overpass, and one-way deer gates, is the most effective method for reducing DVCs in the United States THIS ARTICLE IS IN DRAFT FORM Published by Digital Commons @ Colby, 2016 1 Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby, Vol. 3 [2016], Iss. 1, Art. 14 THIS ARTICLE IS IN DRAFT FORM (Danielson and Hubbard, 1998). Less effective methods at altering deer behavior are repellents and deer whistles on cars that make an unpleasant noise to deer in hope that it will keep them away. Finally, deer herd reduction is an appropriate method for reducing DVC’s as well as crop and garden losses caused by deer (DeNicola et al., 2000). Other work shows that the state transportation department rated herd management as potentially the most effective DVC control strategy, while state wildlife administrators rated it second behind the effective fencing technique (Sullivan and Messmer, 2003). My paper differs because it also looks at the number of hunting permits that were issued over the years, and breaks down the deer population into Bucks and Does to see if the gender of the deer has an effect on car crashes. Theoretically, more hunting permits should lead to more deer being killed. However, if hunters simply obtained a permit and never utilized it, the deer population would not be altered because not enough are being hunted. Data: In order to test my hypothesis that if hunters take more deer we will see a reduction in the amount of car accidents, I gathered data from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. From the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles I was able to find summaries for Motor Vehicle Accidents in New York State from 2002-2013. From Table 7(p) we can find a row that reads “Accidents with Environmental Factors” and specifically “Animals Action” which is accidents due to animals. In this paper we proxy Animals Action for DVC’s. Although this is not a direct number of accidents caused only by deer, it is reasonable to assume that the vast majority of these accidents from animal’s action were caused by deer, since other animals you typically would see on the road from car collisions are too small to cause any real damage worth reporting. The N (...truncated)