Risk of Hitting a Deer Increases in Minnesota with Time Change Sunday

Minnesota joins most of the nation on Sunday in turning our clocks back an hour, ending daylight saving time and returning to standard time.

Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes that means it'll be light out when kids are getting on the school bus. It'll also mean I will be going home each evening in the dark.

And that's the problem. LOTS of us will be driving home at twilight or in the dark.

And that's the problem.

See, research shows in the week following deer-vehicle collisions are 14 times more likely shortly after dark than before. AND there's a reported 16% rise in vehicle and deer collisions in the week following the time change.

Serious.

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Ron Moen is a wildlife biologist at the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI), associate professor in the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Swenson College of Science and Engineering and scholar in the Center for Transportation Studies.

Moen's been studying the effect of deer-vehicle collisions. He says some 1,300 of these collisions have been reported to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety in recent years. But he says insurance data suggests the true number in Minnesota could be 10 -- or even 20 -- times higher than that.

Moen says there are ways for you to avoid deer collisions.

First, drive the speed limit, especially in areas where deer are often seen. And second, be aware of your surroundings.

And remember -- if one deer crosses the road, others may follow.

And I'll add my two cents -- even if OUR time has changed, the time for the deer has not. They're doing their thing on the schedule they always have. WE need to adapt.