Deer-Vehicle Crash Information Clearninghouse
Home | About | Research | Products | Data | Resources

Objectives

• Summarize and distribute results from past and current research in the areas of deer-vehicle population and flow data collection methods, DVCs, and the effectiveness of avoidance measures. Identify gaps in DVC research, and suggest DVC research and data collection standards. Update and add to this information as necessary.
• Identify sources of deer and vehicle population and flow data within the focus region (i.e., Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota). Summarize and document the data collection and information management methods used to collect this information.
• Critically review current best practices in deer, vehicle, and DVC information management methods (see above), and develop a standard approach to the collection, management, and reporting of data relevant to the evaluation and analysis of DVCs. Suggest a standard approach to DVC-related research and information collection and management.
• Initiate and update an interactive webpage that is the location of choice for information related to DVCs. The webpage will, among other things, document/present the results from the literature review, the research gap identification, and the review of the information management systems used to collect data relevant to the analysis of DVCs. The webpage will also provide and promote the suggested and preferred standards and/or criteria for participation and contribution to the DVC Information Clearinghouse data or research results. The results of existing and ongoing DVC and DVC avoidance research will be documented, compared to the suggested standards/criteria, and any limitations noted.
• As appropriate, the deer, vehicle, and DVC data collected as part of this project will be reduced, summarized, combined, compared, statistically described, and analyzed. The data will be summarized by state and region (as appropriate), relevant trends identified, and the results documented in a summary report and on the DVC Information Clearinghouse webpage.
• Disseminate the findings of this project through the webpage that is created, publication of several research reports, presentations, and papers at annual meetings and in national peer-reviewed journals. The objectives of this information dissemination will be educational, data evaluation usefulness, and assistance with the effective use of resources (e.g., information that allows the identification of a particular problem area and the most effective DVC avoidance measure to use at that location).

How to Join

The pooled fund proposal initially advertised for the creation of a Deer-Vehicle Crash Information and Research Center (DVCIR Center) has concluded. More information about the initial pooled fund can be found on the Transportation Pooled Fund website. Advisory members for the DVCIR Center are in the process of discussing its future path.

DVCIR Center Pooled Fund Summary
The overall objective of the initial DVCIR Center Pooled Fund project was to create a focal point center that strategically considers/disseminates unbiased deer-vehicle crash (DVC) impact information and funds properly designed countermeasure research evaluations. The DVICIR Center Pooled Fund proposal was in response to:

1. Decades of attempts and the expense of many many dollars to address a widespread and highly variable safety problem in a generally piecemeal fashion by a number of jurisdictions, and
2. Numerous suggestions that the current DVC Information Clearinghouse work (www.deercrash.org) be expanded beyond the upper Midwest region and into funding projects that properly address the large gaps that exist in the state-of-the-knowledge related to the safety impacts of potential DVC countermeasures.

A strategic approach is needed to begin to economically and effectively reduce the DVC safety problem. The projects completed by the DVCIR Center will be determined by representatives of the participating agencies.

The objective is to have a wide range of participating agencies in the fund (e.g., DOTs, DNRs, insurance, trucking, non-profits, Ministries of Transportation and Environment, and any others that might be interested).