Most drivers on the Garden State Parkway worry about the usual hazards: aggressive lane changes, construction zones, and the occasional driver who treats 65 mph as a suggestion. A 44-year-old Hackensack woman can now add something entirely different to that list. On Tuesday evening in Paramus, a deer fell from a Parkway overpass and landed directly on her SUV below, causing enough damage to trap her inside the vehicle.
According to Paramus Police Chief Robert M. Guidetti, the woman was traveling north on Paramus Road in her 2025 Hyundai Tucson when the deer cleared a concrete barrier on the overpass and dropped onto the road below, striking her vehicle. Officers responded and helped the driver exit the car after the door was compromised in the impact. She was not seriously injured, which, given the physics involved, qualifies as genuinely fortunate.
The deer did not survive. Animal control removed the animal from the scene, and no other vehicles were involved. Chief Guidetti did not speculate on how the deer came to be on the Parkway overpass in the first place, but the road runs adjacent to Saddle River County Park along the southbound lanes near that stretch of Paramus Avenue, which provides at least a plausible path from woodland to pavement.
What makes this incident worth paying attention to is not just the novelty of a falling deer, though that is admittedly a sentence you do not type every day. It is a reminder of just how unpredictable animal-related vehicle incidents can be, and how little preparation is useful when a deer is arriving from above rather than from the shoulder.
A Seasonal Pattern With a Twist
Deer activity in Bergen County typically spikes in June as newborn fawns begin to emerge and explore territory alongside their mothers, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. While autumn’s rutting season gets the most attention from drivers and insurers alike, early summer brings its own uptick in deer movement, particularly in counties with significant parkland nearby.
The Garden State Parkway corridor through Bergen County passes through or near several preserved green spaces, making wildlife encounters more likely than drivers might expect on a road that otherwise feels thoroughly suburban. The proximity of Saddle River County Park to the incident location fits that pattern.
New Jersey’s Deer-Vehicle Problem by the Numbers
Unsurprisingly, this latest incident is not the first time a deer has fallen off an overpass and hit a vehicle below. Check out the following video:
New Jersey has a substantial and well-documented deer problem when it comes to road safety. An estimated 25,000 vehicle collisions involving deer occur in New Jersey every year. According to AAA, the average insurance claim for an animal strike in the state was nearly $6,000 in 2022, a figure that had risen almost 35 percent in just five years, driven largely by the increased complexity and cost of repairing modern vehicle sensor systems, cameras, and driver assistance technology.
About three quarters of deer crashes in New Jersey occur between dusk and dawn, and while the peak season runs from October through December, these incidents can happen in any month and in virtually any area outside dense urban centers. A deer landing on a vehicle from above does not fit neatly into the standard safety literature, but the damage profile and potential for injury are entirely consistent with what insurers and traffic safety experts have been tracking for years.
What Drivers Should Actually Do
The standard guidance on deer encounters assumes the animal is approaching horizontally, but the underlying principles still apply. If a crash is unavoidable, the recommended approach is to brake firmly and stay in your lane rather than swerving, which can create a more serious secondary incident. After any collision, moving the vehicle to a safe location, activating hazard lights, contacting police, and documenting damage with photographs are the appropriate steps before notifying your insurer.
One aspect of the Paramus incident that deserves mention is the door damage that prevented the driver from exiting on her own. Modern SUVs are structurally robust, but a significant impact to the roof or door pillar area can compromise door operation even when the passenger compartment remains largely intact. The fact that an officer was needed to assist her exit is a reminder that vehicle damage after an animal strike can be more extensive than it initially appears, and that staying calm and waiting for assistance is the right call.
The Garden State Parkway’s Wildlife Reality
The Garden State Parkway is one of the most heavily traveled toll roads in the country, carrying tens of millions of trips annually through a corridor that mixes dense residential development with preserved open space. That combination is precisely what makes wildlife encounters a persistent issue rather than a freak occurrence. Deer do not read the signs about restricted access, and the elevation changes, overpasses, and retaining structures along the route create opportunities for animals to appear from directions that drivers have no reason to anticipate.
Tuesday’s incident in Paramus is unlikely to be the last of its kind. It serves as a reasonable reminder that on New Jersey roads, situational awareness has to account for more than what is visible at bumper level.
There is currently no footage of this latest overpass incident, so we’ve used images from previous times where deer fell from an overpass in New Jersey. Something that unfortunately has happened multiple times.