Massachusetts Deer-Vehicle Accidents On the Rise, Costing Residents Thousands

Massachusetts residents are known to have some pretty wild reputations, whether it be our rabid sports fans or that sweet accent (which only a very small percentage of us have) nothing quite defines us like our drivers.  

While New York might have the reputation of being the worst driver in the U.S., some argue a strong case that, in fact, Massholes (it’s in the Oxford Dictionary, look it up) take the cake. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is an organization that releases data about the number and location of fatal injuries suffered in traffic accidents across the country. In recent years, Massachusetts has tended to rank near the top of the annual list.

In a 2022 Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board Meeting, Transportation Secretary Jamey Tesler reported a “significant increase in roadway fatalities over the last couple of years and serious injuries.” In fact, road fatalities rose by 50% in 2020, according to the Boston Herald, despite reduced traffic across most of Massachusetts roads and highways during the COVID-19 shutdowns. As such, many new initiatives are being considered throughout the state to hopefully re-order certain traffic patterns, increase funding for risk prevention programs, and reduce fatalities on MA roads overall.

However, not all accidents are the fault of drivers, they are often the fault of animals and this time of year is prime season in Massachusetts. New data from MassDOT and AAA shows that November is the most dangerous month for deer-related crashes in the Bay State. And the numbers are way up.

Deer-related accidents in Massachusetts are up 51% over the last 10 years, with 729 crashes occurring last November alone, which some wildlife officials from the state say is a direct correlation from the increased deer density locally combined with prime mating season. Last year from just October to December there were 1,569 deer related crashes, in totally there were over 3,500 for the year.

On average, a deer-car collision costs drivers around $4,000 per incident. Massachusetts ranks 17th for animal-vehicle collisions in the country.