Preliminary Evaluation of Drivers’ Responses to a Roadside Animal Warning System

The problem of vehicle-animal crashes is one of the few areas in which the number of incidents has been climbing steadily in recent years. Many strategies and technologies have been investigated over the years to try to reduce the number of vehicle-animal crashes, and each have had their own strengths and shortcomings. Thus far, no single strategy or technology has proven to be an effective solution. In this project, a 0.6 mi (1 km) site in Northern California, along State Route 3, near the city of Fort Jones, was selected based on a high frequency of vehicle-deer collisions to test a new animal detection and driver warning system. An animal detection system used microwave break-a-beam technology to detect objects along side or crossing the roadway, and warnings were provided to drivers using dynamic, LED, warning signs. These signs were typically blank in the off position and were only illuminated when the animal detection system detected a beam break. Coupled with the animal detection and driver warning system was a traffic monitoring system and data collection system, and a total of 10 months of data were collected between August 2011 and April of 2012. An analysis of the data showed that when illuminated, the warning signs reduced the traffic speeds by an average of 3.1 mph (5 km/h) to 5.1 mph (8.2 km/h), depending on the analysis method.