Reducing Deer Vehicle Collisions: What Works and What Does Not

1
Reducing Deer Vehicle CollisionsWhat Works and
What Does Not
Gwen Curtis
Jim Hedlund
Alan Williams
Paul Curtis
Highway Safety North
Insurance Institute For Highway Safety
Cornell University
2

• Paper
• Summary
• Bambi
• Unmasked
• Conclusions

3
Deer-Vehicle Collisions (DVCs)

• 1991 Today
• .75 mil (est) 1.5 mil (est)
• Only 20-50 of accidents may be reported
• At 2,000/accident reported, total insurance
  payout 1.1 billion

4
150 Human Fatalities per year
5
Bells and Whistles Dont Work!
6
Reflector Devices Mixed Results
7
Wildlife Overpass
National Park Canada
8
Green Bridge
Switzerland
9

• Deer Ecology
• Habitat
• Population
• Trends

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
Problems Caused by Deer Overpopulation
14
Deer Population Trend

• 1900
  Today
• NY 20,000 1
  million
• US 500,000 30 million

15
Seasonal Trends in DVCs
16
(No Transcript)
17
Unmasking Bambi
What are the Real Issues?
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
Can we change deer behavior?
28
How Do We Change Driver Education?

• Emphasize Deer Behavior
• October to December Peak
• Greatest movement dawn and dusk
• Deer have habitual crossways
• Deer travel in social groups

29
(No Transcript)
30
How Can We Change Road Signs?
31
Can We Improve Vehicles?
32
(No Transcript)
33
Underpass with Deer Fence
34
Box Culvert Underpass
35
Grates Combined with Fencing
36
(No Transcript)