Thursday, December 6, 2007

ANIMALS- VS- VEHICLES –BOTH LOSE

(Laird Twp, Ont.) Sault Ste Marie OPP investigated three animal and vehicle crashes over the past twenty four hours.

Yesterday morning at about 4:30 a.m. a transport hauling boats was traveling east on Hwy 17 near Neebish Road. The truck stuck a deer and the deer then hit a support beam on the trailer. The beam broke and one of the boats on the trailer was damaged. The deer was obliterated from the impact. The driver of the truck was not injured and none of the new boats he was hauling fell from the trailer.

A second crash happened in the same area at about 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning. A full size van was traveling on Hwy 17 when the van stuck an elk (yes, ELK). The elk was killed in the collision and the van had major damage.

The driver of the van was not injured. The van did have to be towed from the scene. The Ministry of Natural Resources attended the scene and removed the elk. When a deer or moose is killed in a crash then anyone can have the carcass as long as you get a permit from the Ministry of Natural Resources. Unlike deer and moose, the M.N.R. does no allow elk to be kept by the public.

THIRD ANIMAL CRASH CAUSES LOTS OF DAMAGE

(Goulais River, Ont.) A third crash yesterday between an animal and a car caused significant damage to the car.

At about 6:30 p.m. last night, a small car had just turned off Hwy 17 onto Pineshores Road in Goulais River. A large dog ran into the path of the car and the dog was struck by the vehicle. The vehicle had major damage to the front of the car but the driver was able to drive the vehicle from the scene.

The dog was killed in the crash and the owner of the dog was in the immediate area. No charges were laid in any of these crashes.

DID YOU KNOW ???

Sault Ste Marie OPP would like to remind motorists that once every minute, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week right across Canada there is a crash involving an animal.

Always be scanning the shoulders or snow banks for animals. Use your high beam headlights when there is no oncoming traffic. A real obvious indicator that there might be a danger of hitting an animal are the big deer and moose sign that the MTO erect on the side of the roadway. If the sign warns you that there is an increase possibility of deer or moose in the area… that might be a good time to start looking real close for the one of them. Of course you could always slow down a little bit in those areas.