RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia highway officials are urging motorists to be on the lookout for deer crossing the state’s highways. The Virginia Department of Transportation notes that deer-mating season runs through the end of December, increasing the chances of deer-vehicle collisions. The department says insurance industry figures show Virginia motorists have a one-in-88 chance of hitting a deer, making the state eighth in the nation for the likelihood of such crashes. The risk is greatest between dusk and midnight and just before and after sunrise. VDOT’s research division is conducting a three-year student to identify locations where it can employ various measures to reduce animal-vehicle collisions along Interstate 64 on Afton Mountain in Albemarle, Augusta and Nelson counties because of the high number of such crashes there.
