IENE 2016

Problems with wildlife mitigations are known all over the world. Traffic is increasing and also populations of wildlife are growing. This results in a growing number of Wildlife Vehicle Collisions (WVC) Many solutions have been tested and the outcome is often not clear. We believe that the only effective measure is to take action towards the drivers. Drivers have the cognitive power to make considered decisions whereas animals do only act on instinctive stimulus and habits. After a certain period animals will get used to the altered situation and return to their common way of living. Therefore we believe that warning animals does not provide a long term solution. Warning drivers about animals crossing the road however has proven to be a very effective measure over a long period. The first system in the Netherlands was built in 1998 and it is still running with excellent results. Providing a warning system for drivers can be done by placing sensors in the field along the roadsides where a large number of animals have a fixed habit to cross the road. Triggered sensors will activate LED warning signs alongside the road to warn oncoming traffic. The locations involved are in general classified as WVC hotspots. We can define several classes of hotspots and from >10 WVC per year the earn back time of a warning system is approximately 4 to 5 years.

Sometimes wildlife is crossing the road at different locations over a long stretch of the road and do not have fixed crossing sections. In these cases another option is to install fences over longer distances to guide wildlife to a predetermined opening where they can cross the road. These openings will be secured by the wildlife warning system to provide a safe crossing for all kind of animals. The species that can be effectively detected from badger up to large animals like deer and moose.

Since 1998 we have developed and improved the Prowild Dynamic Wildlife Warning System (DWWS). The latest generation DWWS has proven that WVC can be reduced with >90%. At one location during the past 4 years the number of WVC has been reduced from 120+ to only 6. Another location has performed even better by reducing the WVC in 4 years from approximately 100 to 0,so no accidents at all over a period of 4 years. Installed systems at other locations show similar results. This cannot be achieved just by simply installing a few sensors and signs. Numerous factors need to be considered. A few are terrain, false triggering, type of detection like passive infrared (PIR) or active infrared(AIR),reliability and backup systems. Another very important factor is that a good protocol for system and terrain maintenance needs to be implemented. With regards to this contractor and client need to work out a proper maintenance plan. During the past 15 years we have carefully looked at these factors and created a DWWS that has proven very reliable. Next to this we can provide downloadable statistics.