This is the latest article that I could find, and unfortunately, I'm sure the numbers have increased. There was another bear found on the same highway about 3 weeks ago. My cousin Johnny has a picture of it on his cell phone laying on the side of the road.
Anyway, back in 2010, there were 7 hit and killed in E. Ky. As I said, I'm sure the numbers have increased.
http://www.wdrb.com/story/12906582/7-bears-killed-by-vehicles-in-ky
WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) -- Seven black bears have been killed in traffic crashes in eastern Kentucky since May, wildlife officials said. The most recent occurred in late July in Letcher County, when a bear was hit by a coal truck, The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg reported.
"The bear came down the hill so fast that I wasn't even sure what I had seen," said Mendy Boggs, who was traveling behind a coal truck that struck the bear. "I thought it was a huge dog. I didn't know bears could move that fast. He was down the hill and in the road before I could even process what was going on."
It is not uncommon for bears to venture onto roads, especially if the animals have been trapped and relocated a few times, said Mark Marraccini, a spokesman with the Kentucky Division of Fish and Wildlife.
Wildlife officials were searching in early July for black bear that attacked a hiker in the Red River Gorge area, the first such bear attack on a human in Kentucky. The June 27 attack injured hiker Tim Scott of Springfield. Officials say if the bear is captured it will be euthanized.
Marraccini said several other bears have been involved in traffic accidents this year and survived the trauma. He said two bears this year have died from traffic accidents in Letcher County, three in Harlan County, and one each in Laurel and Pulaski counties. Marraccini said a total of seven bears died in Kentucky traffic accidents in 2009.
Boggs said after the driver hit the bear in Letcher County, he pulled off the road.
"The truck diver was really shaken up, too," said Boggs. "He didn't seem to have any idea what had happened at first. He thought a piece of tire may have hit my van but said that when he looked in his mirror he saw the bear."