Daylight saving time ended on Sunday. That means the sun will set earlier, forcing more drivers onto roadways in the dark, which increases the risk of collisions with wildlife.
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According to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), state troopers responded to 3,777 crashes across the state involving collisions with wildlife. The most active months for those crashes include October, November and December.
Part of the problem is that more people are making their evening commute home in the dark. Currently, the sun sets in Denver at 4:55 p.m. Driving in the dark forces drivers to be extra alert.
“We would ask our human neighbors to be mindful of our wild animal neighbors, and so that means just slowing down on roads, really paying attention to those wildlife crossing signs,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) Statewide Public Information Officer Bridget O’Rourke. “Also, making sure on those back mountain roads to avoid swerving or sharp turns, because wildlife could be right around the corner.”
Unfortunately, the changing of the clocks causes more sleepy drivers on the roadway. Studies show that the change impacts people’s circadian rhythms and causes fatigue. One study from the University of Colorado found that this was also true when daylight saving time begins in the spring. Data shows a 6% increase in fatal crashes the week after the clocks jump forward.
However, it’s not just the changing of the clocks that increases the risk of crashes with wildlife like deer and elk. It’s also the time of year when many of these larger mammals are starting to migrate to other areas of the state as the winter weather begins to move in.
“Wildlife right now is migrating, and they are coming to lower elevation so that they can have more access to food, water and shelter during the winter months,” said O’Rourke. “So they're more active right now, and we're just going to start to see them more along our roadways.”
O’Rourke says extra driver awareness helps, but CPW is also working with CDOT to make changes across the state to improve safety.
One of those changes is building wildlife overpasses. These are human-made overpasses that will be designed to look natural, giving animals an easy and safe way to cross the state’s highways.
"We are aware that roadways can be a huge obstacle for wildlife connectivity, and that is why CDOT’s design and engineering teams continue to explore ways to include wildlife mitigation features into our highway construction projects,” said CDOT Chief Engineer Keith Stefanik in a press release. “We consider it a wise investment to include features like underpasses, overpasses and high wildlife fencing, especially when they can help reduce the number of wildlife-vehicle crashes by 80 to 90%.”
Learn more about wildlife overpasses from the In The NoCo podcast.
