How Do You Stop Drivers From Colliding With Wild Animals?

In the San Francisco Bay Area, high-speed, high-volume traffic and seasonal migrations have created a maelstrom of animal-driver carnage. A motorcyclist was recently killed when he struck a large deer. A cyclist flying down a hill smacked into a deer and suffered a concussion and memory loss. The region ranks among the worst for wildlife-vehicle collisions in California, according to a report from UC Davis.

The number of drivers smashing into animals—deer are by far the most common victims, but there are also coyotes, bears, elk, mountain lions, and wild pigs—are up in California. The university’s researchers counted 7,831 such incidents in 2016 on highways and major roads, an increase of more than 2,000 over the previous year. These figures are all probably underestimates, as many people don’t report hitting animals and others swerve to avoid them, generating accident reports that often fail to mention wildlife.