Wildlife accident
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A wildlife accident is a traffic accident involving a wild animal. This can either lead to a collision between a vehicle and a wild animal or damage occurs as a result of an evasive maneuver initiated by the animal. If an animal dies in an accident, it is called fallen game .
Affected animal species
Accidents involving wildlife are usually only those accidents that result in damage to the vehicle. This normally applies to larger animals and therefore mostly corresponds to game . Running over smaller, wild animals such as hedgehogs, reptiles or smaller birds, as well as domestic or farm animals such as cats, chickens, cows, horses or sheep does not count as accidents with wild animals. There is an inaccuracy in German colloquial language that makes no distinction between game, which is subject to hunting law, and wild animals, which are mostly subject to nature conservation law. In contrast, the English term roadkill includes all animal species.
The species in question are in Central Europe, especially roe deer , wild boar , fallow deer and red deer and fox , raccoon , badger and rabbit . In other parts of the world, wolves , bears , kangaroos , moose (see moose test ), opossums and other cloven-hoofed game species are also affected.
statistics
Europe
It is estimated that between 35 million and 1.1 billion birds die on European roads every year.
Germany
Every year in Germany, between 2000 and 3000 people are injured in accidents involving wildlife, of which around 10-20 people die, 500 to 1000 are seriously injured.
In the case of cloven-hoofed animals (roe deer, fallow deer, red deer, wild boar), hunters systematically record animals that have died of diseases or collisions with vehicles (fallen game). On this basis, the German Hunting Association (DJV) calculates the number of game accidents for Germany every year. The actual number of accidents involving wild animals - for example with foxes, badgers or brown hares - is around four times as high according to estimates by the DJV. In Germany, a total of almost 233,000 accidents with game occurred in the 2014/2015 hunting year (April 2014 - March 2015). Roe deer account for around 194,000 accidents with wild animals, around 21,500 for wild boar, around 4,000 for fallow deer and around 3,200 for red deer. A good 212,800 roe deer, wild boar and stags lost their lives on German roads in 2015. This emerges from the current wildlife accident statistics published by the DJV in 2016. Roe deer caused the largest number of accidents at 83 percent. The ADAC estimates that in 2006 around 220,000 wild animals were killed, 2,800 people were injured in a wildlife accident and ten died.
When the Federal Statistical Office of accidents involving animals are registered less than 2%. Minor accidents are only recorded numerically. A differentiation according to characteristics, e.g. B. Wildlife accident is not possible.
The figures from the German insurers (GDV) only give a clue. As some vehicle owners do not have comprehensive insurance , their accidents are not included in these figures. In addition, some insurers not only count collisions with feral game in the narrower sense, but also with other animals such as cows. The rounded figures from vehicle insurance (fully comprehensive and partially comprehensive) are:
| year | Number of damage | Claims expenditure |
| 2005 | 225,000 | € 447 million |
| 2006 | 215,000 | € 423 million |
| 2007 | 240,000 | € 490 million |
| 2009 | 247,000 | € 518 million |
| 2012 | 258,000 | € 590 million |
| 2013 | 247,000 | € 580 million |
| 2014 | 238,000 | € 575 million |
| 2015 | 263,000 | approx. € 660 million |
| 2016 | 264,000 | approx. € 690 million |
| 2017 | 275,000 | € 744 million |
On average, one case in 2013 cost € 2,400.
Austria
In 2014 a total of 72,081 wild animals died on Austria's roads, 338 people were seriously injured in traffic accidents involving wild animals and two people died in the process.
Switzerland
Accidents with animals are the order of the day in road traffic. Every year tens of thousands of larger animals such as deer, foxes, martens, hedgehogs and well over 100,000 amphibians perish on Swiss roads. Over 8,000 deer are killed on Swiss roads every year. Over 100 people are injured in collisions with animals every year. Accidents with animals are also costly. The damage to vehicles alone amounts to over 25 million francs per year.
Factors in a wildlife accident
The extent of a collision with wild animals depends on the speed of the vehicle and the size and weight of the animal.
With increasing speed, the stopping distance increases, i.e. the sum of the reaction and braking distances. From a speed of 80 km / h this is 55 meters. At just 20 km / h more, the braking distance is extended to almost 80 meters. If animals suddenly step or jump on the street, an accident can hardly be avoided. Especially at night and around 60 meters of visibility with headlights, a collision almost inevitably occurs.
In the event of a collision between an animal and a vehicle, the front of the vehicle is hit with enormous weights at 60 kilometers per hour. A roebuck hits the vehicle with almost a ton of weight. The force of a wild boar hitting the windshield corresponds to the weight of a rhinoceros. With smaller animals such as foxes or martens, the danger arises less from the impact energy. Rather, the behavior of the driver plays a role. Accordingly, avoiding the object is often the only trigger for serious accidents and should be avoided. Insurers then try to blame the driver partially.
Danger spots
The game often follows certain paths, the game crossing . Where these lead across the street, there are special danger spots, which are marked by appropriate traffic signs. In principle, accidents involving wildlife can happen all year round and at any time of the day. During dawn and dusk, however, there is a significantly higher risk of accidents, as the animals are particularly active at these times and often change their location. There is also an increased risk during the rutting season .
In Germany, deer crossings are marked with the sign 142 deer crossings. Wild can appear here from both sides. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation assumes 30,000 such "conflict points" in the supra-regional transport network.
Prevention
To avoid accidents with wildlife, suitable measures are taken on the known critical road sections. On the one hand, these are barriers through game protection fences or other structures. In some cases, these are combined through the construction of suitable crossing aids such as green bridges or amphibious tunnels.
On the other hand, game can be deterred by hair bags, CD indicators, scented fences and scented foam baskets and stoppers, and game warning reflectors in the form of reflective foils on tree trunks, boards and PET bottles. The last-mentioned passive reflectors and their further development with active sound and light generation are known as game warner . Regular maintenance is important for these measures. An effective and sustainable effect of these deterrent measures could not yet be scientifically proven.
Finally, all vehicle drivers are requested to avoid accidents with wildlife by driving carefully. In the area of warning signs for deer crossing, this includes reduced speed and careful observation of the edges of the lane, especially at dusk and at night. If an animal has crossed the road, more animals are to be expected. If there are animals on or next to the road, drive slowly, dim the lights and, if necessary, sound the horn. With small game like rabbits and foxes, it is often advised to only brake when there is no risk of a rear-end collision.
What to do after a wildlife accident
A wildlife accident must be reported immediately to the responsible gamekeeper, game warden or hunting tenant . The easiest way to do this is to report it to the police . Even minor collisions with game must be reported immediately. The person authorized to hunt will recover the game or track down injured game with a search . If necessary, he or the police will issue a certificate of the accident to the insurance company for claims settlement.
Injured animals should be left lying around so as not to endanger yourself. Injured wild animals can react very aggressively, and there can be a risk of rabies at least outside of Western Europe . Accidental game belongs to those who are authorized to hunt for their own use, but may not be brought into circulation. Dead game may not be taken along as this constitutes poaching .
Claims settlement
The damage resulting from an accident with wildlife is not damage from wildlife in the legal sense . The damage to the vehicle is accidental damage, which is usually insured with partially comprehensive insurance for wild animals (deer, fox, wild boar or hare) . Damage caused by game birds is usually not insured.
Damage caused by an evasive maneuver to the vehicle is only insured if this has prevented more serious damage to the vehicle. Damage caused by evasive maneuvers towards small animals is not covered by the insurance cover, even if the evasive maneuver resulted from a startle reaction or an uncontrolled reflex. Dodging often causes worse accidents than a collision with the animal; in addition, other road users are endangered by the evasive maneuver.
Endangering biodiversity from accidents involving wildlife
Road traffic is the number one killer of some animal species. For endangered species in particular, this represents a major risk factor. The main cause is the increasing volume of traffic . For some species, the death rate from traffic is now even higher than the birth rate. These are the results of the German Hunting Association (DJV) as part of the association's project to analyze the barrier effect of traffic routes on selected pointer and guide species in cooperation with the University of Kiel and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).
The enormous extent of the situation becomes particularly clear in the case of the lynx , badger or brown hare: the most common cause of death is road traffic with up to 50 percent of the total mortality. Road traffic is responsible for 7 to 14 percent of deaths in roe deer. According to the DJV, every third deer from the hunting statistics in North Rhine-Westphalia is "shot" by motorists. The main cause of the phenomenon of wildlife accidents is the increasing fragmentation and fragmentation of landscapes by infrastructural systems. Federal roads, railways and, above all, the motorways pose a risk to wild animals such as otters , badgers, beavers , hare, wild boar and roe deer. The most important factor is the number of vehicles per 24 hours and route section, or DTV for short (English technical term Daily Traffic Value). If the DTV value is over 15,000, roads are no longer passable for many animals. According to the Federal Highway Research Institute (BaSt), an average of 9,420 vehicles per 24 hours traveled on German federal highways in 2013, and 47,600 vehicles per 24 hours on motorways.
According to the DJV, the nationwide traffic volume has almost doubled on motorways since 1975 and even quadrupled on federal highways. The number of accidents involving wildlife has also quadrupled. It is noticeable that up to a DTV of 10,000 the number of wild animals involved in accidents increases proportionally. Over and above this, the rate stagnates or falls again. In the project "Overcoming barriers", scientists cite the fear of animals (psychological barrier) or the heavy loss of individuals in the immediate vicinity (population thinning) as possible reasons.
Road traffic as a barrier now even has an impact on the gene pool of populations. Habitat corridors are u. a. cut off by traffic in such a way that the genetic exchange is completely interrupted or at least greatly reduced.
The DJV is a partner in the Holstein Habitat Corridors project, a lighthouse project that is financed by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) with funds from the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU). In this way, the long-term integration of green bridges into the landscape is being tried out in order to preserve living space corridors.
In Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) there has been the project “Dead Finds Cadastre” since 2010 to record u. a. Accidents involving wildlife and in Austria the Roadkill project has been carried out since March 2014. In these projects, data on accidents with vertebrates are reported by road users and hunters and evaluated by scientists. The aim of these projects is to find out which factors lead to accidents with animals on roads, to support road planning and, in general, to contribute to raising public awareness of this issue of "roadkill".
Curiosities
A special feature worth mentioning is the hunting rifle , which used to be carried on Norwegian locomotives, especially in the province of Nordland , in order to be able to quickly rescue injured animals in the event of a wildlife accident (especially with reindeer ). Tightening of the gun laws resulted in a creeping end to this practice, which led to criticism from animal welfare.
See also
literature
- Wildlife accidents . In: Ilse Haseder , Gerhard Stinglwagner : Knaurs Großes Jagdlexikon . Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-1579-5
Web links
- Association projects of the DJV, the University of Kiel and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation on the subject of "Overcoming barriers"
- TCS crash test with deer dummy - accidents with wildlife: direct collisions are less dangerous than evasive maneuvers . (PDF; 123 kB) Press release Touring Club Switzerland
- Mass phenomenon wildlife accidents . Accident research by insurers (UDV)
- For dealing with accidents involving wildlife on waldwissen.net
- ADAC statistics on game accidents in Germany (PDF) accessed on August 26, 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ duden.de accessed on February 6, 2015
- ^ Roadkill in the English language Wikipedia
- ↑ J. Erritzoe, TD Mazgajski, L. Rejt: Bird casualties on European roads - a review . In: Acta Ornithol. , 38, 2003, pp. 77-93.
- ↑ https://web.de/magazine/panorama/tote-knapp-3000-verletzt-wildunfaellen-deutschland-33255362
- ↑ Data and facts from the German Hunting Association
- ↑ [1] (PDF; 115 kB) German Hunting Association, Handbook 2016 (April 2015 to March 2016)
- ↑ http://www.jagdverband.de/content/wildunfallstatistik accessed July 13, 2016
- ↑ Accident with wildlife: Evasion is often more dangerous than a collision . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Motorzeitung.de, April 15, 2008
- ↑ ACE Lenkrad , No. 11, November 15, 2015, p. 33
- ↑ Autumn: Risk time for accidents involving wildlife . APA OTS , October 7, 2015; accessed on October 27, 2015
- ↑ http://wyberg.ch/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Flyer-Wildunfall.pdf accessed March 28, 2016
- ↑ jagdnetz.de Current data, facts and graphics on the subject of wildlife accidents
- ↑ Green bridges for Bambi and Co. In: ADAC Motorwelt , Heft 4, 2008, p. 76 f.
- ↑ Fewer game accidents - Lucerne hunters are trained . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Jagd & Natur , March 19, 2008
- ↑ Accident clusters with accidents involving wildlife ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.1 MB) Research report of the accident research of insurers (UDV)
- ↑ Prevention of wildlife accidents ( memento of the original of September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.4 MB) ADAC specialist information; Retrieved August 26, 2013
- ↑ duden.de
- ↑ Analysis of the barrier effect of traffic routes on selected pointer and guide types . ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 624 kB)
- ↑ BASt traffic development on federal trunk roads 2013
- ↑ DJV project: "Overcome barriers, reconnect living spaces!"
- ↑ Lebensraumkorridore.de
- ↑ H. Schmüser, F. Broszio, U. Fehlberg, H. Reck, S. Graumann: The wildlife accident and dead find cadastre Schleswig-Holstein - a model . Hunting and species protection annual report 2014 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Ministry for Energy Transition, Agriculture and Rural Areas Schleswig-Holstein, pp. 24–28.
- ↑ wildtier-kataster.uni-kiel.de
- ↑ citizen-science.at
- ↑ Andreas Budalen, Ole Marius Rørstad, Gisle Forland: Krever våpen ombord på togene - NRK Nordland - Local nyheter, TV og radio. In: NRK.no. June 6, 2014, accessed November 30, 2018 (Norwegian).
- ↑ Susanne Lysvold: Døden på skinnene - Nordland. In: NRK.no. March 28, 2016, accessed November 30, 2018 (Norwegian).
