Northern Kentucky a dangerous place for deer, drivers | News

BURLINGTON, KY (FOX19) - Statistics from the Kentucky State Police indicate that Northern Kentucky is a dangerous place to be a deer, and perhaps to drive a car. 

Boone County leads the state with an average of 153 a year between 2006 and 2010, and Campbell and Kenton Counties are also in the top 10. 

Those counties offer a dangerous combination: lots of deer, plus lots of people driving cars on highways. 

State maps show many of Boone County's vehicle-deer crashes happened along I-75 and 275, both highways with lots of traffic and many wooded areas next to the roadway. 

Deer take cover in wooded areas, and there are more wooded areas on hills, since they are harder for people to develop.  In Mason County, the vast majority of crashes happened on the hills surrounding Maysville, with many fewer in the flatter southern part of the county.  In Fort Wright and neighboring cities, there were few if any crashes on Route 17, but a number of crashes on the roads that lead from Route 17 up the hill to Dixie Highway. 

Kentucky's largest county, Jefferson, home to Louisville, was number two to Boone County in crashes involving deer. Lexington/Fayette had fewer crashes, 135 over 5 years, than 7 different Northern Kentucky Counties, despite its high population.  

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