State police say a deer hit by a vehicle crashed through the windshield of another car in Saginaw County, killing a woman and leaving her husband in critical condition.

Radio station WSGW says the incident occurred late Tuesday afternoon on Dixie Highway in Birch Run Township, near Frankenmuth.

Police said the airborne deer crashed through the window of a vehicle driven by 34-year-old Michael Gibbs of Bridgeport. The antlers of the deer his his wife, Amanda, on the head. The deer also struck Michael Gibbs before flying out the back window of their vehicle.

Amanda Gibbs, 35,  was killed. Michael Gibbs was transported to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit in critical condition.

Like many car and deer collisions, the accident took place at dusk in November.

Tom Bruff is a member of the Michigan Car-Deer Crash Coalition.  He has survived hitting a deer and knows what kind of action a driver must take.

"You see one crossing the road and you think it's clear, probably hold back a little bit because most likely there is another couple deer following that one," Bruff said.

Bruff added that the worst accidents happen when a driver swerves to avoid a deer.

"They go off the road, they hit an object like a tree or a rock. They might cross the center line of the road and hit another car," Bruff said.

Last year in Michigan, nearly 54,000 car-deer crashes were reported.  Eight people were killed in those collisions and more than 1,400 people were injured.

In southeast Michigan, nearly 5,500 collisions were reported last year. Oakland County recorded the most accidents.  In Livingston and St. Clair counties, one in every five crashes involves a deer.