Every year, there are thousands of deer-related accidents involving cars in the western U.S.  According to a recent posting by the Brentwood Homeowners Association, there are relatively few within the hillside areas of Brentwood and the Santa Monica Mountains.  Nonetheless, November and December is the peak mating season for the Mule Deer and maintaining an elevated awareness while driving the roads through our beautiful canyons can help keep these tragedies at a minimum.

Deer often roam into unfamiliar areas and panic when they see or hear cars.  This causes them to bound onto the road without warning and/or 'freeze' in the beams of oncoming headlights.  They're often killed by the car's impact or are critically injured.  The collisions can cause considerable damage to a car as well as creating serious injury potential to its occupants.

Here's some safety tips to keep in mind when driving the hillside communities:

  1. Be particularly alert at dawn, dusk and very late hours when there is little or no traffic.
  2. Use caution when driving on two lane roads.
  3. If you see a deer on the side of the road, stop and look for others then proceed slowly.
  4. If a deer 'freezes', stop and turn your headlights off and on to give a warning.
  5. Deer are naturally skittish and prone to panic, so try to avoid swerving (to avoid contact) and instead stop as quickly as possible, for they tend to follow headlights.

Driving with caution these months while in any of the Santa Monica Mountain communities will help to preserve nearby wildlife and minimize your risk of a collision.