Incidence of Intentional Vehicle–Reptile Collisions

Abstract

The impact of vehicles on certain reptile species is well documented and population consequences of associated mortality from collisions with vehicles can be significant. Whether such collisions by motor vehicle drivers are intentional has been speculated on but not studied. The authors documented the response of motor vehicle drivers to a fake turtle, fake snake, an item frequently found on the road (i.e., disposable cup), and an inconspicuous control. Response was documented as a hit, miss, or rescue. Using log-linear analysis the study found evidence that reptile decoys were hit at a higher rate than by chance with approximately 2.7% of motorists intentionally hitting them. These results may be used to improve vehicle-reptile collision probability models and demonstrate the need for highly effective mitigation measures to prevent reptile access to roadways with moderate to heavy traffic volumes.

Predicting Hot Spots of Herpetofauna Road Mortality Along Highway Networks

“…Factors that influence whether a location is a herpetofauna hot spot are likely to include species composition and population density in the vicinity of a road segment (Carr and Fahrig 2001, Hels and Buchwald 2001), road design (DeMaynadier and Hunter 2000, Shine et al 2004, composition and configuration of wetlands and other habitat bordering the road (Findlay et al 2001, Mazerolle andDesrochers 2005), volume and timing of traffic (Fahrig et al 1995, Mazerolle 2004, behavior of animals upon approaching the road (Gibbs 1998, Shine et al 2004, Andrews and Gibbons 2005, their behavior upon entering onto the road surface (Mazerolle 2004, Andrews andGibbons 2005), and behavior of drivers encountering animals in the roadway (Langley et al 1989, Ashley et al 2007. A nontrivial result of our research is that causeway wetland configuration, and not simply wetland presence, is most highly associated with roadkill of reptiles and amphibians, which suggests that directed movements between wetlands, rather than simple random dispersal movements out of wetlands, may be an important cause of road crossing by the wetland-associated reptiles and amphibians in our region.…”

Identifying Hot Moments in Road‐Mortality Risk for Freshwater Turtles

“…Turtles could retreat in their shell at the approach of a vehicle, stop and turn around, or walk down a road, all with the result of increasing their risk of road mortality. Also, some drivers may actively try to avoid or hit a turtle, or stop and move it off the road (Ashley et al 2007). However, if the potential bias associated with these assumptions does not change seasonally, the relative risk estimates obtained from our analysis remain sound.…”

Modeling road mortality hotspots of Eastern Hermann’s tortoise in Romania

“…Lastly, our model does not account for driver behavior, which has the potential to either increase or decrease the risk of mortality for tortoises. The drivers are more or less aware of small animals on the road, and there are indications that some drivers intentionally hit the tortoises crossing roads (see Ashley et al, 2007).…”