Deer-crash study has plan for Caltrans

A new UC Davis study found that Caltrans could do more to stop deer and other animals from wandering onto parts of Interstate 280 and getting hit by cars, but the transportation agency is "paralyzed in the 'don't know what to do' state," the study's author said.

Caltrans should build deer-proof fences, wildlife tunnels and overpasses accessible to animals along a stretch of I-280 that is notorious for deer crossings that cause collisions of car and beast and crashes by drivers swerving to avoid deer.

Researchers at the UC Davis Road Ecology Center made these recommendations to Caltrans after spending 30 months analyzing roadkill, accident reports and wildlife habits along I-280 from San Bruno to Menlo Park to determine how and why so many cars strike deer and other wild animals.

"There were places that there were more crashes and I think it is because at those places there was more accessibility" to the freeway, said study author Fraser Shilling, director of the ecology center. "The recommendation would be that you fence off the highway from the habitat and provide a place for the animals to cross."

There are roughly a dozen underpasses and bridges that animals can use to cross the busy freeway, Shilling said. Some were installed for wildlife but some, like those that are actually underpasses for roads or human walking trails, are not always a good fit for wild animals.

Stopping deer from wandering onto the freeway is not just about saving wildlife from becoming roadkill, Shilling said. Collisions between cars and deer can total a car and injure or even kill its occupants.

In 2011, Daniel Strickland, a professor at Santa Clara University, died after his car hit a deer on I-280 and was rear-ended by another car.

"Instead of thinking of collisions with animals as an environment problem, another frame to think of it is, because people have died and been injured, it is a driver-safety issue," Shilling said.

But Caltrans still considers the issue a low-priority environmental issue, Shilling said.

"Caltrans really hasn't figured out how to deal with this issue systematically," Shilling said. "They're sort of paralyzed in the 'don't know what to do' state."

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Deer-crash study has plan for Caltrans