At home recovering from a weekend bicycle accident with a deer on Long Island New York.
the TODAY host was laid up with an injured shoulder after a mishap while bicycling on Long Island. “He was riding his bike over the weekend and he had a run-in with a deer,” co-host Meredith Vieira explained.
Vieira added that although Lauer’s shoulder was hurt, his sense of humor was intact: He joked in an email that he thought “the deer was hired by the competition.”
“I’d hire the deer — but just to graze him,” Vieira quipped to Weekend TODAY anchor Lester Holt, who filled in for Lauer.
There was no immediate word on when Lauer would return to TODAY’s anchor desk.
Vieira said that the deer apparently leapt in front of Lauer, who slammed on his brakes to avoid a collision. The sudden stop threw him off the bike and onto his shoulder.
With soaring deer populations across much of the US mishaps like this will become more common. While it may sound somewhat comical, because this involved a bicycle, animal collisions injury and kill a number of people each year across the nation. Statistics for motor vehicle collisions and animals show a significant rise over the past few years.
State Farm, the nation’s largest auto insurer, estimates that there were more than 1.2 million claims for damage in crashes with animals during the last half of 2007 and the first half of 2008. The company says animal strike claims have increased 14.9 percent over the past 5 years.
Most vehicle-animal collisions aren’t severe enough to injure people, but data from the federal government show that crash deaths are increasing. In 1993, 101 people died in crashes involving animals. By 2000, the number was 150, and in 2007 it was 223.
The states with the largest number of total deaths are Texas with 227 deaths during 1993-2007, Wisconsin with 123, and Pennsylvania with 112 (see attached table of state-by-state deaths in crashes with animals).
Insurance Institute For Highway Safety
Hunting remains the cheapest and the best alternative for controlling out of control animal populations. Many areas have had success in utilizing bow hunters in urban areas to help control deer populations and reduce the risk to people that live and travel in the area.
Hopefully Matt will fully recover and return to the Today Show soon as well as to his hobby of bike riding.
