Wildlife

You may have seen them, a pair of small whistles that you attach to your vehicle to scare deer away and prevent collisions with them. The intent is for the movement of your vehicle to force air through them and produce sound, or ultrasound that keeps deer off the highway and safely out of your path.

This case of involves a single vehicle crash where the driver swerved to avoid a collision with a deer. Mr. Justice Verhoven was asked to determine whether the driver or the deer was at fault for the crash.

Over the 11 years ending in 2017 an average of about 5,762 wildlife collisions were noted in the Wildlife Accident Reporting System each year. The data is provided by BC's road maintenance contractors. I suspect that this number is not the entire picture as some animals are able to struggle away from the collision scene and die unnoticed. One estimate places this number at 12,000 annually.

Multi-lane highways are not wildlife viewing areas. Using them as such puts the animals, yourself, and other road users at significant risk.

Traveling north by motorcycle from Vernon around 6:20 am Saturday morning. Near the weigh scales, 90 km/h zone, 2 lanes northbound, with concrete barrier adjacent to the left lane. I noted an SUV in front of me in the right lane slowing, and then stopping.

Putting human life at risk to save an animal on the road is negligent. Paul Hergott discusses two cases where drivers attempted to do this and serious collisions were the result. There are also links to the case law involved in these stories.

I drive the Inland Island Highway every morning & evening, as I am commuting between Buckley Bay and Parksville.

Harris Wheeler was driving northbound on Highway 97 south of Taylor, B.C. when his vehicle collided with a moose. Shortly afterward Aron Walter, driving southbound, struck that moose which was then laying on the highway. That collision caused his vehicle to cross over the center line where he struck a vehicle driven by Raymond Ziemer head on.