Washington ranked 43rd in the nation for the likelihood that a driver will hit a deer in the next year.
Using its own claims data and state licensed driver counts from the Federal Highway Administration, State Farm insurance company ranked each state based on the projected number of deer-vehicle collisions from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, and the number of licensed drivers in each state in 2010.
The insurance company said the chance of a Washington drivers hitting a deer in the next 12 months is one in 477. That was based on a projection of 10,700 deer-vehicle collisions and 5,106,367 licensed drivers in the state in 2010.
Elsewhere in the region: Montana ranked sixth (one in 78), Idaho was 33rd (one in 232) and Oregon was 37th (one in 302).
For the sixth year in a row, West Virginia topped the list at one in 40. Rounding out the top five were: South Dakota (one in 68), Iowa (one in 71.9), Michigan (one in 72.4) and Pennsylvania (one in 76). The state in which deer-vehicle mishaps are least likely is still Hawaii (one in 6,801).
The odds of a driver in Hawaii colliding with a deer between now and 12 months from now are approximately equal to the odds that any one person will be struck by lightning during his or her lifetime, said the news release.
Compiled by Jeffrey P. Mayor, jeff.@thenewstribune.com
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.