Like a deer caught in headlights.
It’s a phrase that humans have been saying as long — much longer, in fact — than I’ve been alive. But this idiom didn’t come from nowhere. Deer actually do get caught in headlights, even if the action (or perhaps, lack of action) is a product of their own doing.
Deer are crepuscular. What does that mean?
Deer are crepuscular creatures. Crepuscular is a funny word — it has a handful of definitions, but the one we’re interested in is below.
Image Source: Google
Because deer are crepuscular, their vision is adjusted for lower light. This means their eyes are dilated to take in as much of their scenery as possible during low-light times.
So when headlights come and hit them right in the face, they freeze — mostly because they have trouble seeing at all.
Are deer legally blind?
As it turns out, deer have difficulty seeing all the time — not just when bombarded by brights.
When compared to human standards of vision, deer are actually legally blind. According to research conducted by the University of Georgia, deer have a vision of 20/200. That means they can see something that’s 20 feet away as if it were 200 feet away. It’s also the same level of vision that makes a human legally blind.
When are deer most active?
In the fall breeding season, deer are most active at dawn and dusk — when people are likely to be using their headlights. Their activity also peaks around midnight.
Animal collisions are most common in autumn, and deer account for 67% of those collisions. In Iowa, drivers have a 1.7% chance of hitting a deer in their vehicle, and they rank only seventh on the list of states with the highest deer collision rates.
Pennsylvania, where I live, has the highest number of deer car accidents (115,000 deer collisions in 2013 totaling $400 million in damage) while West Virginia holds the highest risk per capita. In West Virginia, you have a 4.3% chance of hitting a deer while driving.
Smart safety is paving the way
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a car brake so fast when someone pulled out into oncoming traffic that the vehicle must have had automatic emergency braking. I can’t imagine any human having reflexes like that. When it comes to deer accidents, I’m hoping that driverless car technology will make a dent in those collision metrics (figuratively, of course).
In the meantime, be wary of those deer caught in headlights.