Wildlife Protection

Quoted from: DRIVING ANIMALS TO THEIR GRAVES by Mark Matthew Braunstein

Every year, our nation's motorists kill nearly 400 million road animals. For every dead animal counted, three or four more die unnoticed: the walking wounded die far from the road, so only instantly killed animals get counted.

Dog in road

Studies by the Humane Society have shown an automotive kill rate of a million animals per day in the US alone. These figures include mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

Deer

The Solar Roadways can protect wildlife and motorists

Load cells in the Solar Road Panels can detect if something is on the surface of the panel. Load cells work like weight machines. In the event that an animal does get onto the Solar Roadway™, oncoming drivers will be warned via embedded LEDs of the danger ahead and will be given plenty of time to slow down. This allows the avoidance of a potentially costly and/or deadly collision.

Solar Road Panel - SLOW DOWN

Currently, about 200 people die in wildlife related crashes each year. Not only will Solar Roadways save lives, but hopefully our auto insurance rates will go down as a result.

Deer standing on road at night
Image by Dan Parlane

Motion sensors can detect animals approaching the roadway and steer them away from non-migratory areas. While we are redoing the roadways, it will be a good opportunity to create some natural places to allow animals to travel under or over the roadways, where natural migratory paths exist.

This is an example of a wildlife crossing going over a road in Montana:

Elk Crossing 1

Elk Crossing 2

Elk Crossing 3

Animals are free to walk over the highway undisturbed.