Deer Crossings and Driver Safety
This entry was posted on 10/27/2008 4:24 PM and is filed under Life, Travel.
To the Editor “From Kearneysville:
“I live near a deer crossing and they keep getting hit. The county should move the deer crossing sign somewhere else. It is too dangerous for the deer to cross where it is now.”
This is a real
letter that Jay Leno read during “Headlines” on his September 22 show. We laugh, but maybe this person is onto something.
Last week, I wrote about deer whistles and promised some ideas for making the roads safer. A recent U.S. Department of Transportation
PowerPoint presentation lists a bunch of strategies for avoiding collisions with deer. (By the way, deer whistles top the list of
ineffective strategies.)
Exactly what is effective? You guessed it:
moving deer crossings. One of the best mitigation strategies is simply to install fencing along the road. A more complete strategy involves combining some form of separate overpass or underpass for wildlife with the fencing. Deer need to migrate and move about; these methods channel them to safer places for crossing roads.
The report also suggests creating some form of sensor for roadways that is capable of detecting the presence of large animals or obstructions. In the future, deer might be scared off somehow, or even better, drivers could be alerted electronically or through sound to obstructions in the road. It might work sort of like a deer whistle for drivers, except that it will actually work.
Until then, the best strategies will remain driving slowly and being extra vigilant around areas where deer tend to cross the road.
