Transcript Slide 1

UK CMA Insurance meeting , Milton Keynes, 2006
Deer–Vehicle Collisions in the UK :
A nationwide issue
Dr Jochen Langbein
Preliminary f indings
Public / Media in UK still mostly view
Animal-Vehicle collisions as
”Freak accidents”
“Biker dies in freak
collision on A24” – West
Sussex- BBC News 4 June 2006
DRIVER KILLED BY FLYING DEER
….in “freak” accident on A35, Hampshire (Daily Mirror 28 / 11 / 2006)
yet general estimates suggest that wild large mammals killed on
roads in Britain every year include around
• 100,000 Foxes ;
• 50,000 Badgers
• 45,000 Deer
:
 In Unites States Deer-Vehicle Collisions are now
widely recognised as a major Insurance risk
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety report for 2005 estimates :
1,500,000 deer-vehicle collisions per annum in US
150 human fatalities
$1.1 billion in property damage
 State Farm Insurance alone showed 192,877 deer-related motor
claims last year; up 6% (10,000) on previous 12 month period
- The top ten ranked States contributed 51% of claims
- and here DVCs make up 5% - 17% of all motor crash
claims !
Where figures ARE available for European countries also suggest
• Over 500,000 collisions with ungulates in Europe
(excluding Russia) ever year
• Resulting in 300 people killed
• 30,000 people injured
• $ 1,000,000,000 material damage
(based on Road Kill data from 8 countries with available records
Including among others :
Germany :
Sweden:
Austria:
Denmark:
120,000 roe; 6500 wild boar; 2800 red & fallow;
50,000 roe; 4000 moose;
35,000 roe; 400 red deer ; 150 boar
10,000 roe; 100 red deer
Deer-Collisions Project 2003-2007 - main aims :
to build for the first time a National Database of
Road Traffic Collisions involving Deer in Britain
assess accident factors, and related aspects of
deer behaviour and management
 identify accident hot-spots
Initiate studies of effectiveness of differing
measures aimed at preventing such accidents
DVC records received
2000 to
2005
Data Source Categories
Jan. 2003 Dec. 2005
ST
Road Accident Statistics Departments
1479
680
U
Carcase Clearance / Up-lifts
6541
4066
IC
Motor Insurance Claims
(via 1 company ,FORTIS GP, only)
2013
770
D
‘Deer-knowledgeable’ contributors
6560
3210
R
Animal Welfare / Rescue
9700
3466
P
Police Control Call Rooms
2186
1294
G
General Public contributors (incl. via web-site)
1069
666
29548
19254
TOTAL:
(those reported to the project are still likely to represent <20% of all DVCs occurring; level
of duplicate reporting of incidents on same date / county is < 5%)
Data Source Categories
ST
U
IC
D
Road Accident Statistics Departments (Regional Police
Please
reportCouncil
ALL Deer/Vehicle
Forces
; and/or
Road Safety collisions
teams)
dead deer
seen at
roadsides
CarcaseorClearance
/ Up-lifts
(e.g.
recorded by Trunk
between
2003
to 2007
Road Maintenance
Agents
[UT];
or Local Authority
Departments [UC] )
either on-line
to:
Motor Insurance Claims
Departments
; Motoring
Roadsidewww.deercollisions.co.uk
Rescue Companies ; major Nationwide Car
hire firms.
or
‘Deer-knowledgeable’ contributors :
[email protected]
e.g. Wildlife
managers / gamekeepers for major
landholding organisations (e.g. Forestry Commission,
MOD, National Trust); AND
Independent Deer Managers / Stalkers; members of
BDS, BASC, DCS; Ecological Consultants; Mammal
Recorders and Researchers.
R
Animal Welfare/Rescue:
RSPCA / SSPCA / Vets / Wildlife Rescue Centres
P
Police Control Call Rooms & Wildlife Liaison Officers
(for logs of any calls relating to deer / vehicle incidents)
G
General Public (via web-site, email or direct contact)
Traffic by Country & Region: 2004
( Billion Vehicle Kilometers driven )
Scotland
42.5
Wales
27.3
England
of which:
South East
London
North West
East of England
West Midlands
South West
Yorks&Humbers.
East Midlands
North East
428.8
86.6
32.7
56.6
55.1
48.6
47.1
41.6
40.7
19.9
Source: National Road
Traffic Survey, DfT.
Only 18% of all Deer Collisions
reported are in Scotland ...
BUT occur within <10% of all
traffic; therefore ‘risk’ of hitting a
deer per mile driven doubles !
Total 16,519 DVC records 2003-5 plotted
Relative frequency of recorded DVCs in 2003+2004 in southern England;
replotted at finer scale for nos. incidents per 5 km by 5 km OS grid square.
Fortis ‘deer’ related claims 1999 to 2004
Motor Claims
• Fortis Ins. Ltd
• 4.25 % market share
• c. 1.3 Million private policies
• For 2003 + 2004 :
• Tot claims 252,709
which included:
• 776 with Deer (0.31 %)
• 167 with Foxes
• 123 with Badgers
Likely number of significantly
damaged vehicles
(i.e. above Insurance excess)
Using sample from Fortis Group Insurance claims data
(i.e. based on claims arising from their c. 1.3 million private motor
polices , equiv. to c. 4.25 % market share)
for extrapolation to Great Britain suggests approx:
10,700
‘deer-related’ motor claims per year
@ avg. cost £1320 = £ 13.9 Million in GB
of which c. 18.5 % in Scotland = 2.57 M
Among c. 45,000 deer injured or killed in vehicle
collisions, near 500 of these lead to human injury in the
UK every year.
Cost to Economy?
‘Deer Collisions contribute around 50% of all human injury RTAs involving
‘wild’ mammals; and around 23% overall among all animal (wild or
domestic) related vehicle accidents.
(Sample data for PIAs from 14 English Counties in 1999-2003)
Animal
Type
Wild Mammals
Deer
Badger
Fox
Rabbit/Hare
Others
Total
Nos.
Injury
RTAs
Number of Casualties
Slight
KSI
%
Total
age
(Killed or Seriously
injured)
309
58
127
151
16
661
63
11
18
18
1
111
372
69
145
169
17
772
48%
9%
19%
22%
2%
100%
Birds and Domesticated mammals
Pheasants
87
Other Bird
47
Horse/Pony
222
Cows
83
Sheep
29
Cats
90
Total
558
81
71
258
100
40
105
655
5
2
35
14
2
4
62
86
73
293
114
42
109
717
12%
10%
41%
16%
6%
15%
100%
Non-Specific
'Animal' in road
292
349
32
381
1453
1665
205
1870
Overall Total
292
52
123
127
9
603
Average ‘Value of Prevention’
per Injury accident by severity
(UK Highways Economic Note 1: 2003 values)
• Fatal accident :
£ 1,492,000
• Seriously Injured:
£ 174,500
• Slightly injured:
£
17,500
Ave. per PIA incident:
£
61,120
Value of Prevention of animal related human injury RTAs
(@ mean £61,000 per incident)
c. 500 with Deer alone
All Animal related
Personal injury RTAs
= > £ 30, 000, 000 per annum
= > £ 130 Million per annum
Summary Deer RTA “Costs”
•
Animal Welfare –
Deer Killed / Injured c. 46,000 (+/- 9000),
•
Vehicle damage (conservative estimate from private policies)
c. £ 14 Million in GB
•
Human Injuries …
c. 500 per annum @ economic cost > £ 30 M
•
Other cost include
Live injured deer dispatch / rescue
Carcass collection / disposal
Traffic delays
How can Insurers help ?
• Insurance sector is potentially the Key source for provision of well
stratified information on true scale , distribution and costs;
- but so far have good info from only one company.
• Insurance, taken together with ST19 human injury monitoring,
presents most promising manner for consistent long term monitoring
of changes
- but we need to extend sample to wider range of companies
• Only basic records are needed per incident:
- Date
- Location (road number / county / nearest town or village / grid?),
- Brief description (one line, if available ; e.g. Insured swerved to
avoid deer, hit tree).
• If not possible to retrieve ‘deer’ incidents from claims database –
then even total number of ‘animal related’ motor claims per year are
also of interest.
Insurers may also be able to help raise public
awareness of the risk of deer-vehicle
collisions and how to avoid them
e.g. : Advice Drivers to
Take note of signs !
Beware that deer often travel in
groups
Heightened risk in areas through
or near to woodland.
Highest risk times dusk to
midnight, and around dawn
Also DVCs peak during May and
October to December
Don’t overswerve to avoid
Dip main beam if deer on road
ahead to avoid them ‘freezing’
Further details see www.deercollisions.co.uk / avoidance