One in every 94 Pennsylvania motorists is likely to strike a deer in the next year, the third largest ratio in the United States according to new data by State Farm.

Utilizing its claims data, State Farm estimates that 2.4 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the U.S. from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009. The insurer said that tally, 100,000 collisions per month, is 18.3% more than five years earlier.

For the third year in a row, West Virginia tops the list of states where a collision is most likely to occur in the next 12 months at 1 in 39. Michigan (1 in 78) is second, Pennsylvania third, Iowa (1 in 104) fourth and Montana (1 in 104) rounds out the top five.

In New Jersey, the likelihood is 1 in 182 and for Delaware, 1 in 198.

Among the 35 states where at least 7,000 deer-vehicle collisions occur per year,New Jersey and Nebraska posted the largest increases (54%) in collisions over the data collection period.

This story originally appeared in the November 2009 print edition of Insurance & Financial Advisor.