Two reflective deer silhouettes are headed to SR 248 near Hideout, where state data shows more than 148 wildlife-vehicle collisions in just two years.

Park City nonprofit Save People Save Wildlife donated the silhouettes to the town of Hideout, as first reported by TownLift on Monday. Hideout Public Works transported them to the community. The town and the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) will decide where along the corridor to place them.

The installation comes as drivers keep hitting animals on area roads. The Park City Police Department logged multiple wildlife collisions in late September, the Park Record reported. A driver struck a deer on Kearns Boulevard on Sept. 21 at 3:40 p.m. Later that night, a bus hit a deer near Kearns Boulevard and Park Avenue. On Sept. 24, an officer helped state wildlife officials remove an elk carcass and two deer carcasses along SR 224.

The stretch of SR 248 through Summit and Wasatch counties has long been flagged as a trouble spot. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and UDOT commissioned a collision-reduction study from BIO-WEST. The study analyzed roadkill pickup and crash data along the highway from U.S. 40 east to Kamas. A state project summary noted the 148-plus collisions between mileposts 3 and 12.7. TownLift, citing the project summary, reported that more than 1,000 mule deer carcasses were collected along the corridor over 14 years.

Existing wildlife exclusion fencing covers much of the route, but the state project summary describes it as "outdated and ineffective." TownLift reported that new development has created gaps in some areas. DWR and UDOT plan to use the study's recommendations to seek funding for longer-term fixes such as improved fencing and wildlife connectivity infrastructure.

The silhouettes are a stopgap.

According to TownLift's report, Save People Save Wildlife said the reflective cutouts are meant to increase motorist awareness while those larger improvements are pursued. The nonprofit installed similar deer silhouettes along SR 248 near Park City in April 2025 and placed reflective moose silhouettes along SR 224 in 2023.

Erin Ferguson, a Save People Save Wildlife board member, wrote in a Sept. 19 letter to the Park Record responding to a column about a deer strike on SR 248: "If it happened to him on S.R. 248, it can happen to any of us. … That's exactly the problem we're trying to solve, one stretch of road at a time."

The nonprofit is also running wildlife cameras along SR 224, placed in January, to track where and when animals approach the road. Save People Save Wildlife said it expects that monitoring to produce site-specific recommendations by late fall, which it plans to bring to UDOT, DWR, Summit County and Park City Municipal.

No timeline has been announced for when the Hideout silhouettes will be installed at their final locations along SR 248.