By, Emily Sidlow
Baldwin High School
If you can drive, I bet you’ve driven past roadkill. I get the chills just glimpsing a squished tail or a flattened ear. Although these collisions are unnerving, collisions with large animals, like deer or moose, can be fatal to both the animal and the human.
Americans have become reliant on cars, whether needing them to commute to work or just pick up some Chinese take-out. This dependency on individual vehicles creates periods of high traffic which directly correlates to an increase in Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions (WVCs).
From July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, there were a whopping 1.8 million auto insurance claims involving animal collisions. These WVCs cost the United States billions of dollars annually and endanger our surrounding ecosystems. While there are emerging programs in the United States that fund the construction of wildlife crossings (bridges and tunnels specifically designed for animals to cross highways), these crossings must be mandated in order to protect citizens, animals, and our environment.
While four to ten percent of reported wildlife-vehicle collisions that have resulted in an injury to the driver and their passengers seems small, this translates to about 200 human deaths and 26,000 injuries yearly, resulting in a loss of at least $8 billion. These costs come from medical bills, car repairs, highway cleanups, and lost workdays. The top five states for the likelihood of animal-involved collisions are West Virginia (1 in 40), Montana (1 in 54), Michigan (1 in 59), Pennsylvania (1 in 61), and Wisconsin (1 in 63). Nearly 100 percent of WVCs with large animals cause damage to the vehicle, repair costs averaging $1,840 to $4,000 depending on the size of the animal.
Statistics don’t mean anything when thinking of the devastation these collisions cause to the livelihood of the people involved. Car crashes, especially of this magnitude, can cause permanent damage to the driver’s and passenger’s physical and mental health. These setbacks will inevitably hurt the injured as well as those who depend on them. These crashes can be equally as dangerous and costly for both the humans and animals involved.
Large populations of common animals like white-tailed deer and grey squirrels indicate a higher percent chance of being hit by a car. It is estimated that in some states, 90 percent of reported crashes involve deer. Almost one-half of yearly WVCs occur on roads with less than 5,000 average daily traffic, which means they tend to happen on smaller, two-lane highways with speed limits of about 55 miles per hour. These small highways are typically seen in more rural areas of the country where common animal populations, like deer, are higher.
These animals are usually in the center of the food chain, eating plants to survive. They have the second largest populations after plants, meaning they are the main food source for many other animals. If these populations decline, so will the populations of larger animals like grey wolves and foxes, resulting in devastating consequences for the environment.
The Humane Society and the Animal Protection Institute estimate that 1 million animals die on the road in the United States per day, amounting to one death every 12 seconds. Hunters kill half as many animals, 500,000, per day. But unlike hunters who usually target common, well-regulated species, car crashes aren’t picky.
Take the Florida panthers, for example. Their population is estimated to be between 120 and 230 in total. This is due to three factors — isolation, loss of habitat, and roadkill — all stemming from urban development. Presently, these panthers roam less than 5 percent of their historic range, when they need to be able to roam between 75 to 200 square miles for hunting and breeding purposes.
When urban centers expand, the habitat for animals such as the Florida panther shrinks and fragments simultaneously. Habitat fragmentation increases as highways and roads are built, while habitats shrink from building up the surrounding cities.
Almost all of the WVCs involving the endangered Florida panthers occur with an increase in speed limit and traffic flow. This can be attributed to the immense urbanization in that area; the panthers have nowhere else to go and no other choice but to cross these busy highways.
In 2017, 24 panthers were killed due to collisions, and 25 in 2018. That is about 12% of the species wiped out each year. These animals can weigh between 68 to 148 pounds, so imagine crashing into one at 70 miles per hour on the highway… that would not be good for you, for your car, and especially for the panther.
One major solution, albeit costly, is the use of wildlife overpasses and underpasses. These structures, sometimes working hand-in-hand with wildlife fencing to funnel the animals toward the safer path, greatly reduce the number of WVCs.
Imagine a bridge spanning the width of a major highway but instead of a concrete top for cars to drive on, the bridge is covered in grass to blend into the surrounding landscape. The grassy exteriors provide ample bait for the creatures who usually munch on the vegitation next to, or in the center of, highways and roads. The price range for grassy underpasses is approximately $200,000 to $400,000 and the price range for grassy overpasses is approximately $2 million to $4 million, but these overpasses and underpasses are investments.
This one-time payment will save the country billions of dollars, gain work hours back, and protect the environment. Seventeen states have already started to implement these structures into their infrastructure and are seeing incredible results.
In 2012, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (DOT) built two wildlife overpasses, six underpasses, and 12 miles of fencing. In the first three years after construction, WVCs in that area decreased by almost 80 percent. They have also contributed to healthier populations of migrating species in the area.
In 2016, Colorado built two wildlife overpasses and five underpasses, widened a highway shoulder, and built fencing with escape ramps. These changes have reduced WVCs in the area by 90 percent. Even though it was an expensive project, these structures will have saved enough money to essentially pay for themselves by 2036 while keeping both humans and wildlife safe.
There has already been both state and federal action to build these wildlife crossings through grant programs. Passed on November 15, 2021, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the IIJA or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), includes a section establishing a wildlife crossings pilot program to provide grants for those eligible. There is $350 million set aside for these grant programs. Some of these eligible organizations include state highways, local government, regional transportation authorities, and Native American tribes.
Maryland and New York both passed bills requiring research on locations where crucial wildlife habitats would benefit from wildlife crossings. New Jersey enacted a bill that expanded the eligibility for wildlife fencing to local farmers.
While these bills show that the United States is beginning to understand the dire consequences of WVCs, there needs to be a more aggressive action plan to prevent them as much as possible.
There must be an expansion upon the grant system already put in place by the IIJA, mandating research by local Departments of Transportation on where wildlife crossings are necessary to protect the vulnerable species in the area. The monetary increase would be based on estimates of how many wildlife crossings are necessary for each state. This funding would be for both the specific research on the exact locations of wildlife crossings and the implementation of these structures, especially since they will be required by all 50 states.
Although this is an expensive plan, the present research demands a change to our highways and local roads. Imagine a world where animals roam freely, where drivers feel safer on our country’s roads, and where ecosystems thrive because every species can fulfill its role.
While you cannot possibly monetize the havoc wildlife collisions cause for humans and nature, the physical cost of inaction is far greater than the price of these crossings. By expanding grant programs, mandating research, and ensuring targeted investment in wildlife infrastructure, we can solve this crisis and create a more sustainable future.
Sources:
- https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/wildlife-crossings/ - https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.14159 - https://highways.dot.gov/federal-lands/wildlife-crossings#:~:text=In%20creating%20the
%20Wildlife%20Crossing,and%20hundreds%20of%20fatalities%20on - https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2021/05/10/wildlife-vehicle collisions-are-a-big-and-costly-problem-and-congress-can-help
- https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-deer-vehicle-collisions#:~:text=Pennsylva nia%20had%20the%20highest%20estimated,are%20the%20top%20animal%20struck. - https://www.sierraclub.org/massachusetts/blog/2019/03/reducing-impacts-roads-wildlife - https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/the-plight-of-florida-panthers/ - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4849762/#:~:text=First%2C%20urbanization %20tends%20to%20decrease,as%20shape%20complexity%2C%20all%20increase. - https://seaworld.org/animals/facts/mammals/florida-panther/#:~:text=Male%3A%20Wild %20adult%20males%20weigh,may%20need%20twice%20that%20amount. - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/08034/08034.pdf - https://smartgrowthamerica.org/bridging-the-gap-how-the-u-s-is-starting-to-address-wildl ife-vehicle-collisions/
- https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-toll-of-the-road/ - https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/23/171
- https://www.ncelenviro.org/articles/states-are-bridging-the-wildlife-habitat-gap-with-new -funding-and-infrastructure-in-2024/#:~:text=Bolstered%20by%20federal%20funding%2 0and,to%20improve%20wildlife%20habitat%20connectivity
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