Nearly 300 people die every year in the United States after a car meets a deer, an elk, or some other animal in the road. That is the new national number from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety as fall crash risk climbs.

 

The foundation's study covers 2020 through 2024 and puts the annual toll at 353,800 police-reported crashes, 49,725 injuries, and 277 deaths. Motorcyclists make up nearly half of those fatalities, which should worry anyone who rides after dark.

 

The research draws on crash databases from the US Department of Transportation. 49,725 injuries a year works out to roughly 136 people hurt every single day in a crash that started with an animal in the road.