Warning: Deer Crossing

Deer in the Whatcom Falls Neighborhood have been an ongoing issue for residents of the area.  It isn’t that they don’t like to have them around, it’s that the animals are a safety hazard.

Neighborhood resident Joe Boyd said that there is an average of at least one vehicular accident a month involving a deer on Lakeway Drive or Electric Avenue. These accidents cause serious damage to cars and their occupants, and often kill the deer, he said.

What can be done to help prevent these accidents? Several residents have suggested putting up deer crossing signs along Lakeway Drive as a warning for drivers to be conscience of their surroundings.

Clark Williams, Superintendant of Traffic and Communications of the City of Bellingham Public Works said the city often receives requests to place these signs.

“We routinely get requests to install warning signs of all types,” Williams said via email, “Including deer crossing, squirrel crossing, beaver crossing, slow children at play, etc.”

The requests usually come through when residents witness a tragic accident or death of “cute animal,” Williams said.  Warning signs are intended to forewarn motorists of sudden unexpected events in isolated or specific locations, he said. 

Since the City of Bellingham has an abundant population of animals, placing crossing signs every time they were requested would be ineffective because the signs would be all over the city, he said. These incidents are not unique and happen in many different areas of Bellingham, Williams said.

Because of the constant flow of requests for warning signs to be installed all over Bellingham, the City has since adopted the position of denying these requests, Williams said.

“The fact that we have animals routinely crossing every single roadway in the City precludes the effective use of the signs in any one particular area,” Williams said.