Wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) are a major issue worldwide. An estimated one to two million collisions between cars and large animals, typically deer, occur every year in the United States alone. Wildlife–vehicle collisions present a complex problem in this country because of the immensity of the U.S. roadway system and the lack of understanding of the kinematics behind WVCs.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI)—contractors of the Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center (TCSRC)—collected equipped-vehicle data from a number of vehicles and provided information from events involving deer on the roadways. Each of the vehicles participating in their study was equipped with cameras and data collection instruments that recorded information about the road and vehicle.

The goal of this project was to determine the typical characteristics of deer–vehicle collisions by analyzing the videos and data provided by VTTI. The information from the videos and data was analyzed and reduced to around 40 variables. This reduced data could be used to inform the implementation of other mitigation techniques that aim to keep wildlife off of the roadway or warn drivers.