These safety tips reduce the most common roadkill animals and deadly wildlife encounters while driving.
Recently, my daughter and my two granddaughters, ages six and four, witnessed someone drive through a small flock of turkeys crossing the road, killing one of the babies. Explaining such a needless act isn’t easy, yet it’s something that happens all the time. It isn’t just turkeys that get hit, but also turtles, squirrels, skunks, and even deer, moose, and bear.
Why does this happen? The blame falls squarely upon us. It isn’t that we drive, but instead how we drive. That squirrel, turkey, or deer could just as easily have been a child or someone walking their dog.
America’s Roads
While driving from Jackson, Wyoming, to Gardiner, Montana, through Grand Teton National Park early one morning, I spotted movement to my right. Even though I was going at the posted speed limit of 30 mph, I slowed down. Just then, a female elk stepped into the road. I stopped and put my hazards on to warn other drivers, but a truck came up behind me and, never slowing down, passed me. If the elk hadn’t sped up, it would’ve been just another statistic. The driver of the truck had total disregard for what was happening. They had no idea why I was stopped, nor did they seem to care.
Route 89 heads north from Gardiner towards Livingston, and the entire road is lined with signs warning motorists to be aware of animals crossing. It isn’t uncommon to see bison, elk, deer, or bears around a bend at any given time. I was just outside the small town of Emigrant, photographing deer, when a large tractor-trailer truck, doing at least 80 mph in a 40 mph section of the two-lane road approached. One of the deer I was photographing started heading towards the road. I had to do something, or I was going to witness a horrible sight. I ended up putting myself between the deer and the truck. I felt the wind from the truck as it sped past me with only a foot or two to spare. The truck never stopped; it never slowed down.
On any particular day in New Hampshire, the roads are littered with the bodies of animals that tried to cross it. Everything from deer to turkeys, and rabbits to opossums and turtles find an untimely death on the road. On one stretch of road that I drive on a regular basis, I’ve seen three deer hit in one month, and I can’t count the number of smaller animals and birds. The speed limit on this road is 40 mph, but most people drive much faster. It’s a semi-rural road with many blind corners, but that doesn’t stop the speed.
What’s Being Done
Numerous studies have been conducted by many different agencies, all with the goal of trying to get a grip on this growing problem on our roadways. A study conducted by the State of Washington Department of Transportation states that the department receives 1,500 reports each year where there has been a human injury or death in an accident involving elk and deer. Since the mid-1970s, “a minimum of 5,000 collisions with deer and 200 with elk happen each year,” based on the carcasses removed from the state highways. This doesn’t even account for collisions with moose, bighorn sheep, cougars, and black bears. Like most states, Washington doesn’t keep figures on smaller animals killed. Without a doubt, if it did, its numbers would be astronomically higher.
From the data that I’ve gathered, there’s a direct correlation between animal deaths and driving, or more importantly, driving habits. In her book Of Time and Turtles, Sy Montgomery cites a University of California, Davis, study that shows that animal deaths on our roadways were cut in half during the Covid-19 pandemic due to less traffic. While this may seem obvious that less traffic equals fewer deaths, another way to look at is that less traffic equals fewer drivers driving aggressively (speeding, illegal passing, etc.).
So, what’s the answer? Washington state has found that, while lowering speed limits will reduce animal and vehicle collisions, it’s nearly impossible to get drivers to comply. Lowered speed limits may even have the opposite effect on drivers who seem to think lower speed limits are a violation of their rights. This mindset may lead to increased tailgating, illegal passing, speeding, and road rage.
In places such as Florida, the data is pretty much the same. From information obtained from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, Florida’s studies all revolve around the effects of traffic on the endangered Florida panther (a sub-species of mountain lion). Early on, Florida reduced the nighttime speed limits in certain areas, widened the road shoulders, and added rumble strips (to increase noise) in an effort to reduce cat and vehicle encounters. Like in Washington, these measures only worked when people followed them.
The Next Step
With roads crossing wildlife habitat at an alarming rate, the next logical thing to do is to give wildlife a means to cross the roads safely. States, such as Wyoming, Washington, and Florida, are establishing underpasses and overpasses in high-concentration areas to give wildlife the freedom to come and go as they please. To help encourage the use of these crossings, wildlife fencing funnels the animals to these safe crossing points.
While nothing is foolproof, these safe crossing areas seem to make a difference for both wildlife and human traffic. Trail cameras show everything from snakes, turtles, and alligators to foxes, bobcats, and rabbits using them. Even bears and mountain lions are taking advantage of these “safe zones.” The bad part is that these crossings aren’t everywhere, since they’re expensive to build and maintain. That means that the next step is up to all of us.
What To Do
Here’s what you can do to reduce untimely animal deaths on the roads.
- Slow down! Follow the posted speed limits. They’re there for a reason. It may not be an animal that darts out. It could be a child.
- Watch for wildlife near the edge of the road. Dawn and dusk are when most animals are on the move. At night, use your high beams as much as possible to see nocturnal animals.
- Be cautious on two-lane roads surrounded by farms, fields, and woods.
- Pay attention! Keep your eyes moving and scan the road as you drive.
- Don’t throw trash out your window. Not only is it littering, but it also attracts wildlife to the edge of the road.
- Install warning devices on your vehicles. There are many on the market and some create a high-pitched sound to warn deer of oncoming traffic.
- Lobby your representatives to build and maintain crossings as a public service.
Society as a whole seems to have lost the connection with our natural world. Our world has changed, and not necessarily for the better. We live in a world of “fast and faster.” We run around like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, all in a hurry to get nowhere. We all pay for this mass dash, especially when a child gets run over, when a bicyclist gets run off the road, and when a deer or turtle gets smashed. Is it really worth it?
State and federal agencies are doing what they can, but we’re part of the problem. We’re also part of the solution. Let’s take responsibility for our own actions. Let’s change our attitudes. Let’s care. It’s up to all of us to protect each other, animal and human.
Dana Benner has been writing about all aspects of the outdoors, sustainability, and the environment for 35 years. His work appears in Mother Earth News, Grit, Countryside & Small Stock Journal, Backwoods Survival Guide, and others.
Originally published in the May/June 2025 issue of Grit magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
