Animal-vehicle crashes (AVCs) are a significant roadway safety problem throughout the world. In the United States (US), for example, it is estimated that more than a million deer-vehicle crashes occur each year, and that the cost of these crashes is over a billion US dollars. The magnitude of this safety problem can be positively and negatively influenced by a wide range of roadway planning, design, and maintenance decisions and agency policies. This connection, however, is rarely discussed or considered by roadway planners and geometric designers (unless an endangered species is involved). The purpose of this paper is to introduce and start a discussion about some of the planning, design, and maintenance decisions and/or policies that can impact the number of AVCs along a roadway. Some design decisions (and the policies that guide them) related to AVCs include posted speed limits, roadway curvature and cross section (e.g., number of lanes, median type and/or barriers, etc.), and the height, length, and location of bridges. Some jurisdictions have also developed and begun to use roadway planning/programming tools that assist in the general AVC impact estimation of roadway alignment locations. Maintenance activities (e.g., roadside vegetation and ice removal) also have potential AVC impacts, and are discussed in this paper. Overall, however, little quantitative knowledge exists about the individual or combined AVC impacts of roadway planning, design, and maintenance decisions. This is a gap in safety research that should be addressed.
Abstract