When daylight saving time ends early Sunday, many Texans' drives to and from work will shift into the dim hours around dawn and dusk, which is exactly when deer and other wildlife move the most. Conservation groups are using the time change to warn drivers and to press the state for more animal crossings.
Research from the Texas Department of Transportation and the University of Texas at Austin's Center for Transportation Research found that nearly 8,000 crashes a year in Texas involve wild or domestic animals, KXAN reported Monday. The study found those collisions happen most often at night and near sunrise, and peak in October, November and December.
"We've changed our routines, but animals don't know that," Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, told the station. He said research shows deer strikes rise once clocks change in the fall because more people are driving in low light. Deer breeding season is also underway.
A push for crossings
Environment Texas wants more bridges, underpasses and culverts built to let animals get across roads safely, and Metzger said similar projects have cut wildlife-vehicle collisions by more than 90% in some places. As new roads and subdivisions spread, he said, animals are squeezed into smaller pockets of habitat and pushed onto busy highways.
The group is asking lawmakers to draw up a statewide wildlife corridor action plan when the Legislature meets next. Earlier this year, TxDOT and Texas Parks and Wildlife signed a memorandum of understanding to look for ways to better connect habitat across the state, according to KXAN.
Sharon Wilcox, the senior Texas representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said crossings protect people as well as animals. "Every collision puts the people in the car at risk too," she said.
The TxDOT and UT study concluded that overpasses, underpasses and fencing can reduce crashes and help animals move between habitats over the long run.
