Summary1. Animal-vehicle collisions are a serious problem for road planners and biologists concerned with traffic safety, species conservation and animal welfare. In Sweden, vehicle collisions with moose (MVC) are an important safety issue. Police records average approximately 4500 incidents year − 1 , including 10-15 human fatalities. New mitigation policies require improved knowledge of the factors influencing the spatial distribution of MVC. 2. Three logistic regression models were developed to predict MVC risks on public roads for use in strategic and project-related impact assessment. The models were based on remotely sensed landscape data, road and traffic statistics and estimations of moose density, quantified at 2000 accident and 2000 non-accident control sites in south-central Sweden. Model predictions were validated on 2600 1-km road sections in the county of Örebro, which were classified as either accident or non-accident roads. Model performances were compared using Akaike's information criterion. 3. Traffic volume, vehicle speed and the occurrence of fences were dominant factors determining MVC risks, identifying 72·7% of all accident sites. Within a given road category, however, the amount of and distance to forest cover, density of intersections between forest edges, private roads and the main accident road, and moose abundance indexed by harvest statistics, significantly distinguished between accident and control sites. In combination, road-traffic and landscape parameters produced an overall concordance in 83·6% of the predicted sites and identified 76·1% of all test road sections correctly. 4. Synthesis and applications . The risk of moose-vehicle collisions in Sweden can be predicted from remotely sensed landscape data in combination with road traffic data. Prediction models suggest that reduced vehicle speed in combination with road fencing and increased roadside clearance may provide effective tools for road planners in counteracting MVC. However, effective mitigation will depend on integrated management of the surrounding landscape and moose population, as well as increased responsibility of individual drivers. Remedying animal-vehicle collisions must involve road authorities as much as landowners and the public.

S e ile r, A . 2 0 0 4 : T re n d s a n d sp a tia l p a tte r n s in u n g u la te -v e h ic le c o llis io n s in S w e d e n . -W ild l. B io l. 10: 3 0 1 -3 1 3 . I s tu d ie d tr e n d s a n d th e sp a tia l v a ria tio n in u n g u la te -v e h ic le c o llisio n s (U V C ) in S w e d e n v a ry in g th e sp a tial re so lu tio n in o rd e r to te st th e h y p o th e sis th a t U V C a re p ro p o rtio n a l to a n im a l d e n sity a n d tra ffic v o lu m e . S p a tia l p a tte rn s w e re stu d ie d at th e le v e l o f in d iv id u a l h u n tin g a re a s (N = 3 1 1 ), m o o s e m a n a g e m e n t d is tric ts (N = 9 5 ), a n d c o u n tie s (N = 2 2 ), w h e re a s tre n d s in U V C w e re s tu d ie d at n ational, c o un ty a n d d istrict le vel c o v erin g p e rio d s o f 3 0 ,1 6 a n d 12 years, re sp ec tiv e ly . D u rin g 1 9 7 0 -1 9 9 9 th e o v e ra ll n u m b e r o f re p o rte d c o llisio n s w ith m o o se Alces alces a n d r o e d e e r Capreolus capreolus w a s c lo se ly c o rr e la te d w ith c h a n g es in an nu a l g a m e b a g s a n d th e in c re ase in tra ffic v o lu m e . L a rg e -sc ale sp a tial v a ria tio n s in U V C a lso sh o w e d a str o n g c o rre la tio n w ith h a rv e st a n d tra f fic. T h e ra tio o f c o llis io n n u m b e r s to h a r v e st, h o w e v e r, in c re a s e d s ig n if ic a n t ly o v e r tim e , s u g g e stin g a g ro w in g im p o r ta n c e o f tra ffic o v e r u n g u la te m a n a g e m e n t. W ith in c re a s e d re so lu tio n , o th e r e n v ir o n m e n ta l fa c to rs su c h a s p r e fe rre d h a b ita t, ro a d d e n s ity a n d th e p re s e n c e o f ro a d u n d e rp a s s e s th a t c a n p r o v id e p a s s a g e s fo r w ild lif e , g a in e d sig n if ic a n c e o v e r u n g u la te d e n sity a n d tra f fic v o lu m e . M y re su lts su g g e st th a t th e re la tio n s h ip b e tw e e n a n im a l ab u n d a n c e , ro ad traffic , m itig a tio n m e a su re s a n d c o llisio n n u m b e rs a re n o t linear. F o r fu tu re p r e d ic tio n , e v a lu a tio n a n d m itig a tio n o f U V C in S w e d e n , im p ro v e d k n o w le d g e a b o u t p a s s a g e d e s ig n , fe n c e lo c a tio n , a n d th e o c c u rre n c e o f U V C in tim e a n d sp a c e is n e e d e d .

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We present new estimates on the national road kill for nine large and medium‐sized mammals in Sweden. Our estimates are based on 705 drivers' reports on the number of animals accidentally hit during individually chosen reference periods. During 1960–2000, a total of 881 animal‐vehicle collisions were reported based on 243.6 million driven kilometres, representing 0.37% of the overall mileage driven in Sweden during 1992, the mean reference year of all replies. The collision frequencies ranged from 0.07 incidents per million kilometres for medium‐sized mustelids, over 0.42 for badgers Meles meles to 1.11 for hares Lepus spp. Our data suggest that during 1992, 7,000–13,500 moose Alces alces, 43,500–59,000 roe deer Capreolus capreolus, 63,500–81,500 hares, 22,000–33,000 badgers and 6,500–12,500 red foxes Vulpes vulpes may have been killed on Swedish roads. Among these game species, the extrapolated nation‐wide road kill ranged between 7 and 97% of the average annual harvest, and between 1 and 12% of the assessed total populations in 1992. Our results are in agreement with other independent road kill estimates for Sweden. The data suggested an overall increase in the frequency of road kills over the past 40 years, which partly can be attributed to changes in traffic volume and wildlife population sizes (game bags). In most species, the estimated levels of nation‐wide road mortality are not alarmingly high, although local impacts may be significant. In badgers and hares, the ratio of the estimated road kill to the annual harvest increased two fold, suggesting a steady increase in the relative importance of road mortality. We conclude that interviews with drivers can provide a cheap and useful index of wildlife traffic mortality.

Millions of wild animals are killed annually on roads worldwide. During spring 2020, the volume of road traffic was reduced globally as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. We gathered data on wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) from Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and for Scotland and England within the United Kingdom. In all studied countries WVC statistics tend to be dominated by large mammals (various deer species and wild boar), while information on smaller mammals as well as birds are less well recorded. The expected number of WVC for 2020 was predicted on the basis of 2015–2019 WVC time series representing expected WVC numbers under normal traffic conditions. Then, the forecasted and reported WVC data were compared. The results indicate varying levels of WVC decrease between countries during the COVID-19 related traffic flow reduction (CRTR). While no significant change was determined in Sweden, where the state-wide response to COVID-19 was the least intensive, a decrease as marked as 37.4% was identified in Estonia. The greatest WVC decrease, more than 40%, was determined during the first weeks of CRTR for Estonia, Spain, Israel, and Czechia. Measures taken during spring 2020 allowed the survival of large numbers of wild animals which would have been killed under normal traffic conditions. The significant effects of even just a few weeks of reduced traffic, help to highlight the negative impacts of roads on wildlife mortality and the need to boost global efforts of wildlife conservation, including systematic gathering of roadkill data.

Since reliable accident statistics and consequent costs have become available, train collisions with wildlife, especially ungulates, have received increasing attention in Sweden. In contrast to collisions on roads, accidents involving wildlife on railways do not entail human injury or death, but can cause substantial train damage and lead to significant delays in railway traffic. Wildlife-train collisions (WTC) are rising in numbers and railways appear as a greater source of ungulate mortality per kilometer than roads. Nevertheless, railways are largely unprotected against wildlife collisions, and mitigation measures that have hitherto been applied to roads are either infeasible or economically unviable for railways. The Swedish Transport Administration is therefore seeking innovative and cost-effective measures for preventing collisions with larger wild animals. In this chapter, we present research on WTC in Sweden that has been used to define the baseline and set up criteria for a new mitigation project. This project aims to develop warning or deterring signals that encourage animals to leave the railway shortly before trains arrive. This will be carried out at several experimental crosswalks for animals along fenced railways where the effect of different signals on animal behaviour can be evaluated. If effective, these deterrent systems could replace fencing and/or crossing structures, and reduce mortality and barrier effects on wildlife. The project was begun in 2015 and will continue for at least 4 years.

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