Wildlife collisions put a dent in road safety

Ascensão, Fernando; Barrientos, Rafael; D’Amico, Marcello

doi:10.1126/science.abm8468

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This steady increase in traffic accidents caused by collisions with ungulates can raise the risk of road fatality, thus colliding with the United Nations resolution of reducing to half road victims in 2030 (UN General Assembly 2020). However, the resolution of the United Nations does not contemplate the role of wildlifevehicle collisions in road safety (Ascensão et al 2021). The socio-economic impacts of overabundant ungulates on road safety, agriculture and timber production, or disease transmission to livestock or humans will likely aggravate as ungulate populations keep growing and human interventions to mitigate damages will become more complex to implement from a monetary, logistic, and societal perspective.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving towards an ecological management of overabundant ungulates: insights from wildlife-vehicle collisions and hunting bag data

Tarjuelo,

Luque-Larena,

Mougeot

2024

Eur J Wildl Res

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Increasing abundance of large ungulates is raising human-wildlife impacts and the effectiveness of recreational hunting to reduce their population growth is increasingly questioned. We report on long-term trends (> 15 years) in wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) and hunting bags, and on associations between the annual growth rate of WVC and that of hunting bags for three ungulates – the wild boar, the red deer, and the roe deer – and the grey wolf in northwest Spain to evaluate the regulating capacity of recreational hunting at large spatial scale. Wildlife-vehicle collisions increased by 332% in 16 years and 91% of all traffic accidents were caused by collisions with these three ungulates. All ungulate species showed significant positive trends in WVC and hunting bags, but we did not observe a negative association between annual growth rate of hunting bags and that of WVC except for the wild boar. Results suggest that recreational hunting was unable to reduce ungulate population growth at the regional scale. There was no upward trend of vehicle collisions with wolves over the study period, possibly reflecting stable wolf populations. Natural mortality due to predation could be promoted through the protection of apex predators, but the lethal management of apex predators, often based on sociopolitical pressures rather than damage levels, can conflict with the strategy for mitigating ungulate impacts. Ungulate management needs to be reconsidered from an ecological perspective that integrates human management measures, including recreational hunting, based on the population dynamics and the recovery of predator–prey interactions by favoring the expansion of apex predators.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving towards an ecological management of overabundant ungulates: insights from wildlife-vehicle collisions and hunting bag data

Tarjuelo,

Luque-Larena,

Mougeot

2024

Eur J Wildl Res

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“…1 Outof-province hunters are cautioned to avoid Saskatchewan 4 and U.S. hunters do so citing difficulty of access. 5 Locally and internationally, hunters provide a voice for conservation, 6 they aid in managing crop damage, disease spread and road accidents, 7 they contribute to food security by harvesting and caring for their own meat 8 and their outdoor activity contributes to their own health and well-being. 9 Although the North American model of wildlife management by strict public ownership has been successful, the prevailing hunter culture in Canada is struggling.…”

Section: Infringements On Federal Programs: Hunting and Bird Bandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A concerned naturalist's perspectives on Saskatchewan's amended Trespass Act

Schmutz¹

2022

bluejay

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“…Road traffic accidents cause about 1.35 million human deaths annually [1]; another 50 million people sustain injuries [2]. Despite initiatives taken to reduce human mortality on roads and the implementation of road safety measures [3], the number of fatalities recently increased not only in low-income and middle-income countries but also in the developed ones [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends and Characteristics of Human Casualties in Wildlife–Vehicle Accidents in Lithuania, 2002–2022

Balčiauskas,

Kučas,

Balčiauskienė

2024

Animals

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We analyzed 474 human casualties in wildlife–vehicle accidents (WVAs) that occurred between 2002 and 2022 in Lithuania, which is a small northern European country. The study revealed the escalating trend of WVAs, since 2018 surpassing other transport accidents, although the number of casualties per WVA was ca. 100 times lower compared to other transport accidents. Moose was the primary contributor, responsible for 66.7% of fatalities and 47.2% of injuries, despite much lower species abundance compared to roe deer, which is the main species involved in WVAs without human casualties. Temporal patterns highlighted seasonal, daily, and hourly variations, with the majority of casualties occurring during dusk or dawn in May and September, on weekends, and between 20:00 and 22:00. Spatially, main roads with high traffic density exhibited the highest casualties per unit length. Most casualties occurred after hitting an animal directly with cars and motorcycles being most vulnerable vehicles. The effectiveness of WVA prevention measures was inconclusive: 9.5% of fatalities and 1.4% of injuries were registered in the area of the warning sign, and 10.4% of all casualties occurred on fenced road segments. These findings suggest the need for a critical evaluation of the current prevention strategies in reducing human casualties associated with WVAs.

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Wildlife collisions put a dent in road safety

Cited by 8 publications

References 4 publications

Moving towards an ecological management of overabundant ungulates: insights from wildlife-vehicle collisions and hunting bag data

Moving towards an ecological management of overabundant ungulates: insights from wildlife-vehicle collisions and hunting bag data

A concerned naturalist's perspectives on Saskatchewan's amended Trespass Act

Trends and Characteristics of Human Casualties in Wildlife–Vehicle Accidents in Lithuania, 2002–2022

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