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News > June 2008 > Slow
Down and Let Wildlife Live
 Slow
Down and Let Wildlife Live
Texas Highways are killing fields for
native wildlife who call this area home
by Don Elroy, Advocacy & Education Coordinator
The Problem
Every time a new road or highway is built,
we subdivide wildlife habitat and thousands of animals die
as a result. Wildlife habitat is determined by basic survival
needs for all living beings: food, water, and shelter. When
roads fragment their environment, animals must still attain
those essentials of life. When food sources are available
on one side of the road and water on the other, animals have
no choice but to cross that road. Careless drivers kill opossums,
squirrels, deer, skunks, armadillos, and a host of other animals
by the hundreds of thousands on our nation's roadways every
year.
Texas Department of Transportation collision
data from 2002–2007 shows a grand total of collisions
caused by a "wild animal on the road" to be 17,218.
Bexar County alone (San Antonio), for the same time period
had 513 collisions reported to TxDOT. Harris County (Houston)
reported 504 collisions due to a wild animal on the road.
Montgomery County had 418, Travis County 453 and Smith County
272. These figures are for reported collisions alone
and do not reflect the thousands of smaller animals that are
run over and left to die on the roadsides every year. Estimates
by the Humane Society of the United States and Defenders of
Wildlife place the total number of animals killed on our roads
every year at 725,000 to 1.5 million annually . Previous studies
done by the HSUS estimated nearly 1 million vertebrate
animals were killed nationally on our roadways every day.
The numbers are staggering when we look at
the individual lives lost. When a mother raccoon is killed
on the highway her babies will also certainly die from slow
and painful starvation. Babies may be run over while following
their mother to a water source. We need to slow down and take
a look at new solutions to these needless animal deaths.
New Ideas and Solutions
Road Ecology
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Green bridges and wildlife underpasses
provide safety for wildlife when traversing our roadways.
These are special corridors of travel that are environmentally
friendly with natural grass and ground cover that allow
wildlife to cross from one part of their habitat to
another without ever negotiating our roadways. |
| • |
Less subdividing of habitat allows
wildlife to meet their basic needs. |
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Wildlife corridors that connect different
habitat areas together should be carefully planned during
design phases before roads are approved for construction.
Habitat connectivity is extremely critical when designing
and constructing new roads. |
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• |
Interactive crossing protection for
animals and drivers are available on the market today.
Strieter-LiteTM
reflector systems provide deer with a warning system
when cars approach. Strieter-Lites are available for
up to 80% funding through federal transportation grants.
Motion sensor technology is also currently available
that sets off flashing lights on deer crossing signs
and warns drivers that an animal is crossing the road
ahead. Kistler reported in his findings that the infrared
technology reduced vehicle/animal collisions in Switzerland
by 82%. |
Drive Defensively
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• |
Animals are typically actively seeking
food during dawn, dusk, and evening hours. Drive with
extra caution during these critical time periods. |
| • |
Always drive alertly, watching the
roadway at all times. Normally one deer crossing the
road means others may be close behind. Animals move
together in family groupings and while slowing down
for the first animal be aware of others possibly following
closely. |
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• |
Slow down to be able to brake with
enough reaction time. Being aware of the surroundings
and animal crossing signs will make your trip more pleasurable
and without incident. Pay attention to speed limits
and surroundings. Animals will cross roads from forested
areas where they are typically not easily seen. |
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• |
Drive with headlights on during critical
times when wildlife are more active, but be prepared
when you can do so safely to dim or turn your headlights
off if a wild animal is fixated by your headlights. |
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• |
Identify problem zones on roads and
highways:
Aspects of the road design that increase
danger to wildlife present on the road:
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Areas where natural or artificial
barriers occur on the roadsides after construction,
which may make animal escape difficult (e.g.,
steep batters, deep drains, guard rails) |
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Sharp corners |
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High speed zones |
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Areas of low visibility |
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Create a Roadkill Mitigation Plan
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• |
Monitoring an area for frequency of
incidents and animals killed creates a knowledgeable
database for mitigation techniques. |
| • |
Changing human and wild animal behavior
by discouraging or rewarding behaviors that will reduce
conflicts and deaths |
|
• |
Signage warning of animals crossing
— interactive and stable |
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Public education |
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Creating escape routes for animals
from roadways |
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Drainage management |
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Canopy crossings for arboreal animals |
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Speed bumps to slow traffic |
Legislative Efforts
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Development of a comprehensive plan
can lead to passage of legislation that would adopt
many, if not all, of the strategic mitigation strategies
needed to reduce wildlife and human tragedy on our highways
and roads. |
| • |
Efforts can be localized, countywide,
statewide, or on a federal level. |
|
• |
Available data on collisions can be
obtained through TxDOT or Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation. |
Volunteer
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We want to hear from your community! |
| • |
Collect data on animals killed on the
roads in your community to aid statewide efforts to
save animal lives / WRR will assemble data from as many
areas that turn in reports and make it available to
other communities |
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• |
Look for opportunities to address
the issues with your local council members or commissioners
/ WRR will also address the issue in your community
at your request |
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Distribute flyers and information
to educate your neighbors about the issue |
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• |
Help animals by stopping and getting
others to stop when they are crossing |
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• |
Assist animals across local streets
that may be slower and more prone to being killed |
|
• |
Donate to Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation's
Slow Down for Wildlife program |
Most of All – Slow Down and Let Wild
Animals Live!
Endnotes
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1 |
Texas Department of Transportation
collision data 2002–2007 / Wild animal on the
roadway as a contributing factor / Disclaimer attached
stating that 2002 data is not complete |
| 2 |
Getting
up to SPEED, Defenders of Wildlife Habitat
& Highway Campaign, © 2007 Defenders of
Wildlife – The Humane Society of the United States |
|
3 |
United States Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration / Turner-Fairbank Highway
Research Center - "The
Scan of the Wild," Fred Bank, November–December
2002, Vol. 66: No. 3 |
|
4 |
"Road Ecology, Science and Solutions,"
Forman, Richard TT, Sperling, Daniel, et al, ©
2002 Island Press |
|
5 |
Strieter-LiteTM www.strieter-lite.com
/ John Streiter / United States patent numbers are 5,277,516
and 5,320,446. Canadian patent number is 2,106,276.
Strieter-Lite Trademark registration number is 1,807,223. |
|
6 |
Kistler, R. 1998. Wissenschaftliche
Begleitung der Wildwarnanlagen Calstrom, WWA-12-S, Juli
1995–November 1997. Schlussbericht. Infodienst
Wildbiologie & Oekologie, Zürich, Switzerland. |
|
7 |
Kistler, R. 2002. Wildwarnanlagen
bewähren sich. CH Wild Info (1): 1–2. Available
from the internet. URL: http://www.wild.unizh.ch/winfo/winfo_pdf/winfo021.pdf.
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