Contradiction and Complacency Shape Attitudes towards the Toll of Roads on Wildlife

Abstract

Simple SummaryMitigating the toll of roads on wildlife can become difficult when awareness and exposure does not result in willingness to change driving behaviour. Using a self-reporting questionnaire, we found that while most drivers view wildlife vehicle collisions as a serious issue, increasing exposure to collisions decreased this attitude and it did not translate into willingness to adopt additional mitigation strategies. In addition, despite most respondents stating they routinely drive slower when collision risk is high (at dusk and dawn), our assessment of driving trends via traffic speeds suggested this sentiment was not generally adhered to. We suggest that competing priorities and complacency when risk to people is low may adversely affect willingness to prevent collisions.AbstractMost people in the world now live in cities. Urbanisation simultaneously isolates people from nature and contributes to biodiversity decline. As cities expand, suburban development and the road infrastructure to support them widens their impact on wildlife. Even so, urban communities, especially those on the peri-urban fringe, endeavour to support biodiversity through wildlife friendly gardens, green spaces and corridors, and conservation estates. On one hand, many who live on city fringes do so because they enjoy proximity to nature, however, the ever increasing intrusion of roads leads to conflict with wildlife. Trauma (usually fatal) to wildlife and (usually emotional and financial) to people ensues. Exposure to this trauma, therefore, should inform attitudes towards wildlife vehicle collisions (WVC) and be linked to willingness to reduce risk of further WVC. While there is good anecdotal evidence for this response, competing priorities and better understanding of the likelihood of human injury or fatalities, as opposed to wildlife fatalities, may confound this trend. In this paper we sought to explore this relationship with a quantitative study of driver behaviour and attitudes to WVC from a cohort of residents and visitors who drive through a peri-urban reserve (Royal National Park) on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. We distributed a self-reporting questionnaire and received responses from 105 local residents and 51 visitors to small townships accessed by roads through the national park. We sought the respondents’ exposure to WVC, their evasive actions in an impending WVC, their attitudes to wildlife fatalities, their strategies to reduce the risk of WVC, and their willingness to adopt new ameliorative measures. The results were partitioned by driver demographics and residency. Residents were generally well informed about mitigation strategies but exposure led to a decrease in viewing WVC as very serious. In addition, despite most respondents stating they routinely drive slower when collision risk is high (at dusk and dawn), our assessment of driving trends via traffic speeds suggested this sentiment was not generally adhered to. Thus we unveil some of the complexities in tackling driver’s willingness to act on reduc...

Animal Vehicle Collision Reduction and Habitat Connectivity Pooled Fund Study – Literature Review

“…However, it is thought important to target the right demographic, and it is essential be provide concrete suggestions, in this case safe driving tactics that can reduce the risk of a collision (Kioko et al 2015. However, strong beliefs and desires are not easily changed via education, and as a result many people do not want to receive further education (Kioko et al 2015, Ramp et al 2016. Furthermore, the accumulation of knowledge does not always translate into changing habits; motorists do not always make the correct maneuver even when they know what to do and what not to do (Vanlaar et al 2019).…”

Roadkill mitigation is paved with good intentions: a critique of Fox et al. (2019)

“…Unfortunately, Fox et al (2019) did not specify the intensity of the signal produced by the 'virtual fence' device, or provide any other specifications for its signal characteristics. They also did not provide any data on traffic volume or speed over time (see Ramp et al 2016). Traffic noise comes mainly from the tyres and engine, and is dependent on the number of vehicles passing, the mix of vehicle types, their speed, and the road surface gradient (Department of State Growth 2015).…”

A Trial of a Solar-Powered, Cooperative Sensor/Actuator, Opto-Acoustical, Virtual Road-Fence to Mitigate Roadkill in Tasmania, Australia

“…Infrastructure management includes building roadside fences, culverts and land-bridges, but these are costly, ranging from AUD 50,000 for a culvert to AUD 2 million for a land-bridge [17,18]. Changing human behaviour focuses chiefly on attempts to change the behaviour of drivers but this has proven to be elusive [12,19,20], although studies are starting to merge the biological and social sciences in a bid to address this [21,22]. Changing animal behaviour to reduce WVC may involve the use of devices that trigger a flight response and alert wildlife to approaching traffic.…”