Overview
- Following the recent switch to winter time, authorities and the ADAC have issued heightened warnings because rush-hour driving now coincides with crepuscular wildlife activity.
- Roe deer are the single largest group hit by vehicles, with 25,200 killed in North Rhine-Westphalia in the 2025/26 hunting year and 12,004 recorded in Hessen in 2024/25.
- Drivers are advised to slow on forest and field roads, watch verges closely, dip high beams, brake controllably and honk if animals appear, because groups often follow a first animal onto the road.
- In North Rhine-Westphalia collisions with pair-hoofed game must be reported to police and only the licensed hunting-rights holder may take possession of dead game, and drivers should secure police or hunter documentation for insurance claims.
- Local policy work is expanding: a Kreis Steinfurt study is testing whether targeted hunting or age-class culls and dispersal measures cut accident rates while other options such as fencing, speed limits and driver education remain standard, contested and under evaluation.