M65 identified as death trap for deer

The M65 between Blackburn and Burnley has been identified as a hotspot in the Deer Initiative’s Deer Vehicle Collisions for England and Wales 2008-2013.

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According to the new report, there were 61 collisions on that stretch of the motorway between 2008 and last year, an average of 20 a year.

The Blackburn Triangle between Preston and Chorley, which includes the M6, M61 and the M65, has also been included with 134 reports from 2008 to 2010, which averaged at 44 per year.

The M6, M62 and the M66 between Bolton and Rochdale was also in the report with 104 incidents, an average of 35 per year, during the same time period.

There were 39 reports between junctions 32 and 33 of the M6 between 2008 and 2010, an average of around 13 per cent.

Dr Jochen Langbein, who has been working with the initiative on deer vehicle collisions for the past 10 years, said: “Aside from the surge in activity by our three largest deer species – fallow, sika and red deer – during their autumn rut, as days shorten and the clocks go back, peak traffic times also coincide with dawn and dusk when activity of all deer species is at its daily peak.”

The Deer Initiative has estimated that more than 14,000 vehicles in the UK will incur significant damage as a result of collisions with deers.

The report also reveals that there are up to 75,000 collisions each year in the country, with up to 700 human injuries and several fatalities.

A spokeswoman for the Deer Initiative said: “The breakdown of deer vehicle collision incidents on trunk roads in the north west for 2011-2013 is not yet available to us, but overall deer vehicle collisions being reported in the region in the last three years have continued to increase.

“It should be noted that the numbers of reports received enable us to monitor trends but represent merely a sample of all the deer vehicle collisions that occur, many of which go unreported.”