COLUMBUS – An Ohio driver’s odds of being involved in a deer-vehicle collision is 1 in 126, 19th highest in the nation, according to data released Monday.
The 21,061 deer-vehicle crashes reported statewide last year was a 6.9 percent increase from the number in 2014, according to officials at the Ohio Insurance Institute, Ohio Department of Natural Resources-Division of Wildlife, Ohio Department of Public Safety and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The number of crashes for 2015 are the state’s highest since 2011, when 22,696 were reported, but the 7 percent of all crashes in 2015 that involved vehicles and deer was about the same as in 2014.
The five counties with the highest number of reported deer-vehicle crashes in 2015 were Lorain, Stark, Hamilton, Richland and Clermont.
Delaware County saw the most in central Ohio, 384, 16th highest in the state. Franklin County ranked No. 22 with 326.