Colorado Creates System to Prevent Car-Animal Collisions

Oct 16 2008 by Sara Lacey

Colorado has created a roadkill prevention system along one of its highways, according to a posting on Autoblog. The system consists of an underground cable that runs parallel to the highway and emits an electromagnetic field that senses if large animals are nearby. If an animal trips the system, an alert is sent to drivers through electronic road signs. How nifty is that? In my home state, even!

I was in an accident involving a deer, a boyfriend and my dad’s car. The run-in happened more than 14 years ago, but it still feels pretty raw. So I’m happy that others will be able to avoid a similar car-deer collision (my boyfriend slammed my dad’s car into a beautiful deer). Colorado has installed this roadkill prevention system on the very same highway where my accident occurred.

“Colorado will be testing the system on US-160, and the state has deployed radar detectors to see if drivers slow down when they receive the warning,” according to Autoblog. “If the system works, you can expect that it will proliferate in areas with high amounts of collisions between automobile and animal.”

You might think that this sounds clever; you might think it sounds funny or like a waste of money. One commenter on Autoblog wrote, “Why not just build a fence?” Um, have you ever seen a deer? They can scale the Great Wall if they’re in the mood.

Seventy percent of Colorado’s highway collisions involve animals, according to Autoblog. I had no idea the number was so large. I’m hopeful that this system will ease the problem in Colorado. There are similar roadkill prevention systems across the country, including along Interstate 80 in Indiana.  Do you have a system like this where you live?