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Car/Animal Collisions are a Major Source of Ontario Insurance Claims
By:
Deutschmann Personal Injury & Disability Law (Lawyers)
| Published 10/12/2015
Wildlife Vehicle Collisions (WVC) are a major cause of personal injury insurance and property claims in Canada. They can result in severe injury or death. Road mortality is a leading factor in the decline of 30 threatened or at risk animal species in Canada as well.
Governments have tried to reduce these collisions for decades in Canada with various levels of success. Signage, fencing, solar powered lights, road design, culvert wildlife roadway underpasses, and ultrasonic devices have all been used. In New Brunswick, for example, entire stretches of the Trans Canada Highway are fenced with high fences to try to mitigate moose dangers. These measures are extremely expensive.
Efforts to reduce collisions focus on measures that influence driver behavior:
- Education
- Speed reduction
- Signage
- Roadside animal detection devices
- In car detection systems
- Road lighting and route selection and design
and those that attempt to influence animal behavior:
- Eliminate salt use in de-icing
- Managing roadside vegetation
- Installing wildlife crossings and over/under passes
- Reducing animal populations through culling, relocation or habitat alteration
Experts now advise that it is generally more dangerous to attempt to avoid collisions with animals than to hit them. You can learn more about WVC on the Wildlife Roadsharing Resource Centre Website.
