Wildlife warning reflectors do not mitigate wildlife–vehicle collisions on roads

Benten, Anke; Hothorn, Torsten; Vor, Torsten; Ammer, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.aap.2018.08.003

Cited by 43 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The methods include driver warning signs, reduced speed limits, mirrors and reflectors. However, warning signs and reflectors do not reduce roadkills by a relevant amount (Benten, Annighöfer, & Vor, ; Benten, Hothorn, Vor, & Ammer, ). As currently there are insufficient permanent mitigation measures at Kwakuchinja Wildlife Corridor, we propose the construction of additional road bumps (surveyed area had three road bumps), the use of fixed speed cameras (none is available) and the erection of conspicuous and reflective signposts (10 are available [five per each lane]) along the highway.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spatial and temporal distribution of mammal roadkills in the Kwakuchinja Wildlife Corridor in Tanzania

et al. 2019

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spatial and temporal distribution of mammal roadkills in the Kwakuchinja Wildlife Corridor in Tanzania

et al. 2019

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“…Two recent, comprehensive reviews of wildlife warning reflectors concluded that reflectors were not effective in reducing roadkill (Brieger et al 2016;Benten et al 2018aBenten et al , 2018b. This conclusion was based on 53 and 76 studies (respectively) of a variety of reflectors, predominantly from Europe and North America, but including some in Australia.…”

Section: Effectiveness Of Light Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, the pathway to roadkill mitigation is littered with the remains of promising techniques, each promoted enthusiastically at first. Evaluation of these techniques has too often been hampered by poorly designed studies, but many new techniques have ultimately been found to be ineffective (D'Angelo and van der Ree 2015; Rytwinski et al 2016;Benten et al 2018b). Considerable caution is therefore essential when evaluating any new technique such as the 'virtual fence' tested in Tasmania.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Coulson

Bender

2020

Aust. Mammalogy

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In a recent publication, Fox et al. (2019) described a three-year trial of a ‘virtual fence’ installed to reduce wildlife roadkills in north-eastern Tasmania. The authors reported a 50% reduction in total roadkills, concluding that the ‘virtual fence’ had the potential to substantially reduce roadkill rates. The field of roadkill mitigation has a long history of promising techniques that are ultimately found wanting, so we evaluated the conceptual basis of the ‘virtual fence’ and the design and analysis of the trial. Of the two stimuli emitted by the ‘virtual fence’, its lights only partly match the sensory capabilities of the target species, its sound frequency is suitable but the intensity is unknown, and both stimuli are artificial and lack biological significance, so will be prone to habituation once novelty wanes. The trial, conducted in three phases, revealed a total of eight methodological flaws ranging from imprecise measurements, confounding effects of treatments, low statistical power, violation of test assumptions and failure to consider habituation. Greater caution is needed in interpreting the findings of this study, and well designed, long-term trials are required to properly assess the ‘virtual fence’.

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“…Changing animal behaviour to reduce WVC may involve the use of devices that trigger a flight response and alert wildlife to approaching traffic. However, when subjected to scientific evaluation, few of these methods have been shown to be effective and have little value [23,24,25,26,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Englefield

Candy²,

Starling

et al. 2019

Animals

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Simple SummaryThe Australian state of Tasmania has a high rate of roadkill, so any method that reduces roadkill in this state deserves attention. A commercial roadkill mitigation device, which combines an auditory warning signal with flashing blue and amber lights in linked units to form a so-called virtual fence, is said to reduce roadkill by up to 90%. For the current trial, a virtual fence was installed on a 4.5-km segment of Tasmanian highway south of Hobart and roadkill was monitored on a daily basis for a period of 126 days. Sections of the virtual fence were switched on or off, according to a predetermined experimental design. Bennett’s wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons, and common brush-tail possums accounted for most of the total roadkill of 174 animals over the study period. For these three species, four complementary methods of analysis failed to reveal any significant effect of the virtual fence in reducing roadkill. This study does not confirm previously reported estimates of reduction in roadkill rates of 50%–90%.AbstractWhen wildlife and motor vehicles collide, the result for the animals is often death (roadkill). A commercial roadkill mitigation device that forms a so-called virtual fence (VF), is said to reduce roadkill by up to 90%. A field trial to test its effectiveness was undertaken along a 4.5-km segment of a Tasmanian highway subdivided into 6 equal sections. A total of 126 days of monitoring of roadkill by species was conducted, with alternate sections being switched on or off, according to a variation of Crossover and Multiple Before-After-Control-Impact experimental designs that divided monitoring into five periods. From the six sections over the five periods, the 30 aggregated values of daily counts of roadkill for each species were modelled. Bennett’s wallabies (BW) (Notamacropus rufogriseus), Tasmanian pademelons (TP) (Thylogale billardierii) and common brush-tail possums (BP) (Trichosurus vulpecula) accounted for most of the total roadkill of 174 animals. Although initially there appeared to be an effect, linear model fits to standardised roadkill rates were not statistically significant for each of BW, TP, and BP using each of the Crossover, Multiple Before-After-Control-Impact, and simple On versus Off comparisons. Adjustment for spatial and temporal trends using a Generalised Additive Model with Poisson error also failed to detect a significant VF effect. A simulation study used to estimate the power to detect a statistically significant reduction in roadkill rate gave, for median estimates of reduction of 21%, 48%, and 57%, estimates of power of 0.24, 0.78, and 0.91, respectively. Therefore, this study failed to confirm previously reported estimates of reduction in roadkill rates claimed for this VF of 50%–90%, despite having adequate power to do so. However, point estimates obtained for these three species of reductions ranging from 13% to 32% leave open the question of there being a real but modest effect that was below statistical detection limits.

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Wildlife warning reflectors do not mitigate wildlife–vehicle collisions on roads

Cited by 43 publications

References 49 publications

The spatial and temporal distribution of mammal roadkills in the Kwakuchinja Wildlife Corridor in Tanzania

The spatial and temporal distribution of mammal roadkills in the Kwakuchinja Wildlife Corridor in Tanzania

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

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

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