By Susan Vela
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A fatal crash in Clermont County on Tuesday is a tragic reminder of the dangers caused by growing deer herds that local officials are struggling to control.

AVOIDING DEER

The Ohio Insurance Institute provides the following tips: • Drive with caution, at or below the speed limit, in areas with deer-crossing signs. • Most crashes occur October through December, followed by May. Highest-risk periods are from sunset to midnight, followed by the hours shortly before and after sunrise. • If you see one deer on or near a roadway, expect others to follow. • After dark, use high-beam headlights when there is no opposing traffic. The high beams will illuminate the eyes of deer on or near a roadway and provide drivers with greater reaction time. • Don't swerve your vehicle to avoid a deer. If collision with a deer seems inevitable, hit it while maintaining control of your car. • Stay alert. Deer are unpredictable, especially when faced with glaring headlights, blowing horns and fast-moving vehicles. • Report any deer-vehicle collision to a local law enforcement agency or state wildlife officer within 24 hours.

As dusk fell Tuesday, a large, antlered buck tried to cross Ohio 133 in Tate Township, triggering a three-car crash that killed Clertude Bacour, a 48-year-old mother of seven from Felicity.

The deer initially was struck by the northbound vehicle of Everett Paton, 31, of Williamsburg, said troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol post in Batavia.

The impact hurled the deer through the air and into Mrs. Bacour's windshield. She lost control of her southbound vehicle, which veered left of center and struck a northbound vehicle, then a mailbox and a tree.

Mrs. Bacour, a member of Bethel United Methodist Church, was pronounced dead at the scene - the first Tristate resident to die in a deer-car collision this year. The deer, which weighed about 170 pounds, lay in a nearby ditch, also dead.

"This time of year is always worse than normal," said Lt. Paul Hermes of the Batavia post, which last responded to a fatal deer-car collision in 1998 and has investigated about 290 deer-car crashes this year.

Of Ohio's 88 counties, Clermont and Hamilton ranked in the top 10 in 2001 for deer-car collisions. Clermont, at No. 9, had 565 such crashes, while Hamilton County, at No. 4, saw 703. Farther down the list were Butler (467 crashes) and Warren County (456).

Across the state, drivers hit a deer almost 31,600 times in 2001, causing seven fatalities - including one in Warren County - and about $63.2 million in damage.

E-mail svela@enquirer.com

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