The pair had been on the two-lane county road about an hour. A pick-up truck, hauling a large tractor, pulled out from a side road in front of the couple. Jerry easily passed the slower moving vehicle and moved back into his lane. Neither Cheryl nor Jerry saw what was coming next.

“The bike immediately stopped and went up on its front wheel catapulting me onto the highway. I bounced down the road, stopped in the middle and crawled to the edge,” says Cheryl. “Jerry managed to stay on the bike and ended up in the ditch farther up the road.”

“We were running about 55 miles per hour. Just a slow, easy, relaxing pace. As we pulled back into our lane I heard a loud noise,” Cheryl recalls. “The next thing I remember I’m lying in a ditch with a man kneeling over me. He was calling 911. I thought we had blown a rear tire. I had no idea a deer was involved. I didn’t know where Jerry was. I knew I was hurt and I was scared for Jerry. I knew he had to be hurt as well.”

Neither Jerry nor Cheryl saw the deer, a young buck, killed instantly. “The driver we had just passed could see the deer down in the ravine, saw its head come up and knew what was going to happen next,” Cheryl shared.

Cheryl was unconscious for a few minutes and remembers waking up and seeing the blood pooling around her head and face. She remembers being really cold while lying on the side of the road, then saw and heard the person who was calling for help.

Cheryl was treated at a trauma center for a broken nose, deep facial cut, fractured wrist and thumb. Both Cheryl and Jerry were bruised and had road rash. The motorcycle was totaled and both helmets had to be replaced, which is recommended after any impact.

Since the crash Cheryl says “we try to be even more aware of our surroundings.” She suggests drivers, especially motorcycles, always be prepared. “Even a large rock in the road can take you down. A deep pothole, another vehicle or an animal of any size can cause a crash. You can be doing everything right and still, things can go very wrong!”

Cheryl rides to work daily, weather permitting, and she and Jerry enjoy day and weekend trips on their bikes and participate in charity rides.

“My world revolves around motorcycles,” says Cheryl. “I have years of scrapbooks documenting our travels, the places we’ve visited and people we’ve met, including pictures from what happened the day our motorcycle met a deer.”

Check out the state map showing the odds of hitting a deer based on State Farm claim data:

New State Farm^® data shows odds drivers will collide with a deer remain the same

Bloomington, Ill. (September 14, 2015) — U.S. drivers are just as likely to have a claim involving a collision with deer, elk or moose than they were last year, according to new claims data from State Farm. The odds drivers will have a claim from hitting one of those animals is 1 out of 169, the same as it was in 2014. That likelihood more than doubles during October, November and December, when deer collisions are most prevalent.

For the ninth year in a row, West Virginia tops the list of states where an auto insurance claim is most likely to occur. The odds a driver in the Mountain State will have a claim did improve to 1 in 44, up from 1 in 39 in 2014, an 11.4% decrease. Hawaii rounds out the bottom of the list also for the ninth year in a row with odds of 1 in 8,765.

The top five states a driver is most likely to have a claim from a collision with a deer, elk or moose are:

Avoid becoming a statistic

Injuries, vehicle damage and fatalities all can result from vehicle collisions with deer. In 2013, 191 deaths were the result of collisions with animals, with deer being the animal most often struck, according to the Insurance Information Institute and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. These tips could help drivers avoid a collision:

• Use extra caution in known deer zones
• Always wear your seatbelt
• At night, when there is no oncoming traffic, use high beams
• Avoid swerving when you see a deer
• Scan the road for deer and other danger signs
• Do not rely on devices such as deer whistles

And here are some deer facts that all drivers should know:

• Deer are on all roads
• Deer are unpredictable
• Deer often move in groups
• Deer movement is most prevalent in the fall
• The hours between dusk and dawn are high risk times

Whether you live in West Virginia or Hawaii, it's important that drivers are practicing safe driving habits and watching out for animals on the road. Wearing your seat belt and practicing defensive driving tactics could make a significant difference.

Reasons why odds go up or down in 2015:

Deer claim counts rose by more than 21% in Indiana and more than 13% in Iowa this past year. The top ten states stayed the same from 2014, just in slightly different order. What causes these significant changes in deer collision rates?

"Periods of daily high-deer movement around dawn and dusk as well as seasonal behavior patterns, such as during the October-December breeding season, increase the risk for auto-deer collisions," said Ron Regan, executive director for the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. "Changes in collision rates from year to year are a reflection of changing deer densities or population levels – more deer in a given area increases the potential for collision. Deer populations are also affected by conditions such as new or improved roads with higher speeds near deer habitat, winter conditions, and other related factors."

More 2015 State Farm deer collisions facts:

• The national cost per claim average is $4,135, up 6% from 2014 ($3,888).
• The months a driver is most likely to have claim involving a deer, elk or moose in the U.S., mostly due to mating and hunting seasons, are:
  1. November
  2. October

December

• Nearly ten percent of the country's deer claims occur in Pennsylvania (126,275 collisions), though when taking into account the amount of licensed drivers in the state, West Virginia still edges out as number one with a likelihood of 1 in 44 compared to Pennsylvania's 1 in 70 (fourth ranked state).

Methodology:

Using its claims data and state licensed driver counts from the Federal Highway Administration, State Farm, the nation's leading auto insurer, calculates the chances of any single American motorist striking a deer, elk or moose during the time frame of July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data has been projected for the insurance industry as a whole, based on the State Farm personal vehicle market penetration within each state. The State Farm data is based on comprehensive and collision claims only. Claims involving policyholders with liability insurance coverage only are not included.

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• 6 Things to Do After Hitting a Deer