What would you think about this?

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LAST EDITED ON Mar-29-12 AT 07:06PM (MST)[p]Today I was driving on old highway 91 between Summit and Parowan, Utah and it was really disheartening seeing the number of roadkill deer carcasses strewn all over the shoulders of the road in this short distance. So many deer meeting such senseless deaths in a deer herd that is already struggling.

The thought came to me that in certain areas with high traffic from wintering deer that maybe they should consider lowering the speed limit during the deer herd's wintering months. I believe that a person cruising along at 40 to 45 miles per hour would have a much better chance of slamming on the brakes and avoiding a collision with darting deer than someone clipping along at 55, 60 or 65 miles per hour. I'm not even advocating this for long stretches of road where there is only a possibility of hitting a deer but more for short stretches of road where the deer crossings are at their most frequent and a collision with one becomes less of a possibility and more of a probability.

Now you might say it wouldn't work because people are just gonna drive the old speed limit anyway. This is where we could put our civil servants to work and have them patrol these areas especially heavily and be generous with the citations to get people to slow down. We all know our deer numbers aren't doing too great right now and deer/vehicle collisions are a major piece of the puzzle in what has been causing mule deer decline.

So what do you think Monster Muleys? Good idea? Dumb idea? Wouldn't make a bit of difference? Weigh in on this proposal.
 
Would it make a difference?.......Probably
Will people actually slow down?...Probably not.
Almost all the deer I have seen hit were an hour before light and an hour or two after dark.
When I drive during these times am almost paranoid. As long as I can use the brights I can usually avoid them, but if am on low and have oncoming headlights it is really hard to anticipate them. So far I have hit 1 and had 2 more run into the side of me.

PS: All of the above mentioned deer were uninsured.

PPS: I once saw a dead deer on the side of the road with an afghan draped over it. I can just visualize some poor woman doing all she could.
 
It wouldnt hurt thats for sure. I wish they would do a better job of maybe putting up portable flashing signs to warn people when they are entering high deer population areas. Some places do this. Over here on highway 89 majority of the deer are whacked by tourists who just dont have a clue they are entering a heavy deer zone. They have been looking at the standard black and yellow road signs for hundreds of miles without seeing a deer then all of a suden THUMP!
 
Great idea in theory,but the reality is people won't slow down.The only sure-fire way to prevent highway mortality on migration routes is the use of high fence and underpasses.Very expensive,but they pay for themselves rather quickly.Wyoming has used this system in Nugget Canyon between Kemmerrer and Cokeville for a few years now.The difference in highway deer/vehicle accidents has been nothing short of amazing.We went from killing several hundred deer per year to a handful.Plus the savings on insurance,etc.
 
Color, your so right, there is a lot of stretches of road that are very short distances that always kill a whole lot of deer year after year. Slowing traffic to 50 MPH along with the use of bright lights can make a huge difference .

There has been a lot of studies done to try and find economical solutions that will get people to slow down in these areas.

One of the best solutions is these digital radar signs. They can be programmed to lower speed limits from dusk to dawn just for the couple of months the herd is in the danger area.

The print out of your actual speed has been shown to really make people slow down.

You could put six of these signs over a six mile stretch of road, 3 on each side for about $30,000.

http://www.times-herald.com/Local/New-digital-speed-signs--traffic-calming-devices---540977
 
Biologists suggest that road kill is 1:7

for every one you see on the road seven more limped off and died out of sight.

On a stretch of frontage road in snowville we counted around 20 deer a couple yotes and one cow elk.

that means there might have been 140 deer that died out of sight and off the road...
 
Nontypical is correct. The underpasses are working great. They have also been built just North of Baggs and more recently between Pinedale and Daniel Junction. The ones North of Baggs have been a great success and the numbers of deer using them continues to grow each year.

i am sure a lower speed limit will help some but a much better long term solution is to factor out the human element. A sure fire way to be disappointed is to count on people to do the right thing.
 
10 foot fence both sides of the road and a wide tunnel every ? mile or so under the road for them to cross back and forth. Should break even in the cost within 2 years just in insurance claims.

Otherwise yes, posted speed limit 45 or less and hire a few more officers to patrol it. Reality is, State won't do either so just keep on hitting the deer and collecting insurance to fix the damage.

GBA
 
Still gonna Smack em at 45 MPH!

Maybe not as many!

You gotta realize these are TARDS you're dealin with & for HELL SAKES,they won't even slow down to save Human Lives!

I agree,it's a BIG problem in TARDville,gonna take Mega-$$$ to fix Roadways to help fix the problem!

Ya gotta realize how many more TARDS are on the Hi-ways these days & only gettin more!


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I know both stretches of road exiting Heber towards park city and Provo have this same problem. My wife hates to drive with me because she thinks I can't watch the road because I am constantly trying to locate where the deer are at. I have only hit an elk. Thing was like a ghost. I know if I had been going just a bit slower It would have made a huge difference. It was only a matter of milliseconds and she would have cleared my truck. The only problem is how do you really get people to slow down. I have seen some fence systems that look good and might help but on the other hand some one sold the state of utah a bill of good with the stupid stupid stupid deer cross walk system they put in between Heber and park city years back. I am suprised they didn't put in crossing guards. I can't figure out who really thought that would work. Maybe we could start a deer school and educate the dear on the dangers of jaywalkings bet that would help. At least we could dump a few million dollars into it.
 
So is a high fence or underpass considered a success because less deer are hit after they are installed?

The Sardine Canyon fence would appear to be a success for the winter commuter's of Cache Valley. But has done that local population of deer in. The fence wont allow for proper migration ect. Before the fence you could see hundreds of deer on a drive through there. You might be lucky to see a dozen today. But you never see roadkill on that route. It's not the only place I noticed this.

So my assessment of success depends on am I seeing more deer in an area before the fence or after. If the answer is before. I say the drivers benefit but game and hunters lost. Which is a shame because I was never worried about the college kid driving 90 while texting on his or her way to USU. Especially if the hwy mortality they were causing was not resulting in herd reduction.

It is possible hwy mortality is compensatory.

Personally I think roadkill is over exaggerated and is happening less today with 250,000 deer then when we had almost 1 million deer.
 
DWR has it covered, they issued 150 doe tags for that area. UDOT is doing their part the speed limit for I-15 through there is 80. We all need to slow down!
 
I do agree. I don't know the real effectiveness of the fences. The only info I have on it is a show I watched on the successes of some place in canada I believe. But they had really gone all out and done some more natural Land bridge type stuff and really studied it with surveillance and everything. I think if they are going to do it the deer need ample opportunity to cross without disrupting natural migration as you say. If they could figure a way to keep the moose of the road between heber and s.l. they could almost issue twice as many tags for moose on the wasatch. It is crazy how many moose get hit on this stretch. Maybe they could start tagging all our herds with reflectors so we can see them better. I agree people need to slow down. and as to your comment about less deer getting hit with 250,000 deer than with a million, I'm sorry but duh! Less deer mean less to hit not that we are driving better. Sorry but I don't buy that one. I do agree with you on your other points. I think too many dear get killed. I don't understand your comment on the kid texting though. Are you saying its pay back or something?
 
Let me clarify. We hit far more deer in the 70s, 80s and even 90s then today. This has little to do with better driving just simply numbers. It has never been touted as the number one cause to deer declines. Until last yr when the UDWR was clamoring for an excuse to why our deer herd sucks so bad. Then they came out with figures (estimates) putting the roadkill nearly 70,000 deer per yr in Utah. Its not as if statistics haven't been kept. DOPS, UDOT and the DWR have figures on reported incidents. For the last 30 yrs and they have trended with the deer herd, down. The figures for the last 10 yrs have been less than 1000. I understand many incidents go unreported deer crawl off in the bushes and die out if sight ect. But when you crunch the numbers of 70,000 deer being killed. And figure most happen in the winter and in very localized areas. The probability of this being true is low. In certain hot spots this would be well over 50 deer per day in the winter. I just don't buy it.

I can tell you what will easily kill 70,000 deer per yr. 1500 cougar will but your not going to get a USU professor to publicly come out and tell you about that. And how reducing their numbers would be a far more cost effective. And better for the overall herds long term health.
 

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