Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions (WVCs) are a serious burden to our society. The consequences are profound and include significant socio-economic, traffic safety and environmental costs. Not only do WVCs in Canada result in death and serious injuries, but certain species become endangered and are at risk of disappearing altogether, which is a threat to biodiversity in our country. To properly address these issues, data of good quality are needed. However, such data are currently lacking in Canada from a number of perspectives. For example, an important limitation of data relates to the level of detail with respect to the location of WVCs. Today, it is often not possible to accurately measure where WVCs actually occur. Also, available data sources are scattered which makes it more challenging to intimately understand how this problem affects our society at a national and regional level. Of greater concern, data about species involved in WVCs are lacking. Such limitations are problematic because they impede measuring species-specific impacts of WVCs on wildlife populations as well as the development and efficient implementation of species-specific and effective measures. Without detailed knowledge of where and when collisions occur and the species affected it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to properly implement targeted mitigation measures. As such, there is an urgent need to establish a national centralized clearing house in Canada that contains current and accurate data on WVCs. Detailed information such as time of day, season, socio-economic costs, type of roadway, accurate location, and animal type provides invaluable information for researchers and practitioners across disciplines to adequately research and apply effective solutions to the problem. In response to this urgent need, State Farm has provided funding to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) and Eco-Kare International to conduct a study to gauge the feasibility of creating such a clearing house; this report is the second deliverable of this project. The first deliverable in this project laid the foundation for the feasibility study (see Vanlaar et al. 2012). This report, the second deliverable, describes the feasibility study. The goals of this second deliverable are: * To investigate the feasibility of establishing a WVC clearing house in Canada; * To develop an action plan to create a clearing house. In order to achieve these goals a dedicated methodology was adopted. This methodology consists of two steps: first, essential components of a WVC clearing house are identified; second, the feasibility of incorporating each component in the clearing house is assessed. (Author/publisher)
Abstract