Best Practices Manual: Wildlife Vehicle Collision Reduction Study

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This handbook provides practitioners with information on the best tools currently available to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs). The manual covers the complete range of strategies for reducing WVCs from statewide and regional planning all the way through site-specific mitigations. The major elements of a WVC reduction program are summarized graphically in figure 1, with the corresponding chapters in which they are covered.

Figure 1. Strategies for reducing WVCs.

1.1 THE CHALLENGE

Reducing WVCs continues to be a significant challenge for the transportation community.

• An estimated one to two million collisions between cars and large animals occur every year in the United States.
• The number of WVCs is steadily increasing.
• Not only are WVCs a human safety threat, but 21 Federally listed threatened or endangered animal species in the United States have been documented as species for which road mortality is a major threat to survival.

Wildlife-vehicle collisions occur:

• Most often on rural two-lane, low-volume roadways.
• Almost all are single-vehicle crashes.
• Most often in the early morning or evening and in the fall or spring, and deer are the most common reported large animal involved.

For a more detailed overview of the WVC challenge refer to the WVC Reduction Study: Report to Congress. ¹

1.2 OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Many other resources are referenced throughout this manual. Some of the key resources that provide information about mitigating WVCs include:

• Report: Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Study for Congress. ¹
• Website: Deer-Vehicle Crash Information Clearinghouse: http://www. deercrash.com.
• Website: Keeping It Simple toolkit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/wildlifeprotection/index.cfm.
• Critter Crossings http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/wildlifecrossings/index.htm.
• Report: Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastructure. Wildlife and traffic: a European handbook for identifying conflicts and designing solutions (COST Action 341). ²
• Book: Road ecology science and solutions. ³
• Report: Guidelines for Designing and Evaluating North American Wildlife Crossing Systems⁴

1.3 OVERVIEW OF MANUAL CONTENT

The solutions presented in this manual primarily focus on WVCs involving species that pose a substantial safety risk (e. g. , larger species such as deer, elk and moose). Additionally, the manual provides discussion of mitigation measures for threatened and endangered species-animals whose very survival is threatened by these highway collisions.

This manual is organized in chapters that are briefly described below. The marginal tabs are included for quick reference.

• Chapter 1 (this chapter) provides an introduction to the WVC challenge and a roadmap of the manual's contents.
• Chapter 2 provides regional and statewide tools important to a WVC reduction program, specifically for statewide data collection and identifying regional priority locations.
• Chapter 3 provides guidance on incorporating WVC reduction into roadway design by considering alternate alignments, possible adjustments in elements of highway design, and identifying crossing locations for mitigations.
• Chapter 4 provides guidance on the best management practices for reducing WVCs involving large animals.
• Chapter 5 provides guidance on the best management practices for reducing WVCs involving threatened and endangered species.
• Chapter 6 provides guidance for monitoring and evaluating WVC mitigations.
• Chapter 7 identifies potential funding sources for a WVC reduction program.
• Chapter 8 includes a checklist for implementing a WVC reduction program.