BuzzH
Well-known member
Yep, but they don't come cheap.
Colorado driver kills 47 antelope
- Thread starter PrairieHunter
- Start date
Yep, but they don't come cheap.
Nameless Range
Well-known member
Yep, they cost millions of dollars. The Animal's Bridge by Evaro cost nearly 2 million dollars, and they are currently building one by spokane that will have cost 6 million. In conjunction with their construction, interstate/highway fences would also have to be replaced to funnel critters to the crossings. They are really cool though.
theat
Well-known member
Pretty sad deal. Near where I live, we have a similar problem with the local sheep herd getting decimated by vehicle collisions. During certain times of the year the sheep spend a lot of time on or near the highway. There is a ton of signage and warnings to slow down but inevitably sheep continue to get hit. It got so bad that this unit went from one of the best in the state, giving out 10 ram and 5 ewe tags in 2011, to 1 tag and has stayed there since. Over 450 sheep in this herd have been killed by vehicle collisions over the years. Here is an article about a semi that quite possibly purposefully hit and killed a bunch of sheep. I didn't witness this incident, but I did watch another truck driver intentionally hit a group of ewes near the same spot. I was stopped behind several vehicles waiting for a group of about a dozen sheep to leave the road, when a truck driver waiting behind me decided he didn't want to wait any longer. He pulled around me and the other vehicles and proceeded to run over a few of the ewes that didn't get out of his way in time. This was 100% done intentionally. This incident was reported to FWP with his plate and semi description. Apparently there was nothing illegal about it other than possibly illegal passing. Recently the speed limit was dropped from 70 to 50 in the stretch and some wildlife fencing is being installed.
billingsgazette.com
missoulian.com
Semi plows through bighorn sheep licking up salt-based de-icer
THOMPSON FALLS - At least 25 bighorn sheep lapping up salt-based deicer on Montana 200 have been struck and killed by vehicles this year, including seven struck by one semi
Highway accidents decimating bighorn sheep herd in Thompson Falls area
Motor vehicle collisions have continued to decimate a bighorn sheep herd in the Thompson Falls area, and wildlife officials said the declining population has reached a new nadir and represents
elkduds
Well-known member
There is deep snow in Walden country now.
Shut down trains when there is more than 12" snow.
AvidIndoorsman
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Having been an over the road trucker and traveled from Casper to Salt Lake, Casper to the mines in Co, and all aver Wyoming that is a fact of life that wild life can be something you have to deal with. In most instances trying to do any type of emergency stop for anything other than other humans is the last thing you want to do. The chance of losing controls increases by such a high percentage you just do not take the risk. I have 2 friends that have lost family members from car wrecks that they created from trying to not hit wild life on the highway. I love our critters as much as anyone but I love my family and friends more.
It's a multi-billion dollar loss to the insurance companies each year because of animal collissions. There's seemingly a lot of support from auto-insurers to move towards more overpasses using federal transportation dollars so as not to beat up on local or state gas tax options, etc. The math pencils out pretty easily in defense of spending a bit now, to save billions later.
ShootsManyBullets
Well-known member
Meth is a hell of a drug
Dinkshooter
Well-known member
you can always tell when a semi hit a critter on I-80, splat! Blood everywhere and no recognizable dead critter on the road
Yep.
Bullshot
Well-known member
I'm plenty calm, thanks. But with all your talk of crucifixion and sweeping generalities of "this day and age", maybe you need to chill a bit too.
Car or semi, I have seen enough people on the road drive like there is some natural law that exempts them from having to consider what might POSSIBLY be ahead. Your scenarios actually agree with me. Top a rise too fast to avoid a large herd of animals (or a broken down car in the travel lane? Or an officer tending to a prior accident? Or a cow on open range?). And semis speeding on ice as a defense?... no sympathy there. Sorry, just my opinion.
I'd prefer that more people would drive a speed that accounts for stopping distance relative to limit of visibility, or ice, or snow, or whatever. Accidents can and do happen and always will, but if conditions are so bad on that road, at that time, such that you can't see an entire herd of 47 antelope in time to stop or slow, I stand by my assertion that someone was going too fast. But.. the facts in the article are sparse, you are correct. So if the 47 antelope all darted out simultaneously, in a chorus line, then, I suppose it's possible it was completely unavoidable and in that case I commend the driver both for not swerving off the road, and possibly also for safely avoiding antelope No. 48 and above.
antelopedundee
Well-known member
Yep. Every so often here you'll see pieces of what was probably a small bunch of 4 or 5 that met a truck.
lastlight
Well-known member
Accidents do happen, but negligent driving is so common all across the open roads in the west. If you cant see a heard of 50 goats in the road up ahead your likely driving too fast. Its insane to see people driving not slow down when there is elk or deer you can clearly see from 1/4 mile away on the side of the road. Nothing more sad than an elk calve laying next to a dead cow on the side of a Montana highway
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
There are just some truckers who drive faster than they should. Western Oklahoma oilfield truckers are dangerous, as are the cattle haulers in Nebraska who drive faster than any truckers I have seen, I have been passed on a blind corner following a plow on a sheet of ice by a truck just this year between Laramie and Wheatland and had to just get out of the way, and the cement haulers who haul ass between Laramie and Ft Collins mixed with the terrible CO drivers is a recipe for constant wrecks on 287.
The difference is animals are not herded up on the roads in most of those areas due to snow like they are where this occurred. I would think this vehicle was driving faster than necessary for the road conditions as well.
The difference is animals are not herded up on the roads in most of those areas due to snow like they are where this occurred. I would think this vehicle was driving faster than necessary for the road conditions as well.
Western Traveler1
Well-known member
There are many articles like this in Montana. Especially in heavy snow accumulations.
Train Kills Antelope Stuck on Tracks Near Miles City
My teenage sister was killed when I was about 7 years old because she tried to avoid hitting a deer and flipped the car she was driving. When you wake up in the middle of the night to hear a sheriffs deputy telling your mother that her daughter is dead, you look for takeaways. #1 - Don't make sudden vehicle maneuvers to avoid wildlife.
Cody Lightfoot
Member
Yep, it happens quite a bit near me. I'm sorry for your loss... I can't imagine. 2 years ago a deer got hit in front of my house. The driver kept going, but my wife and I went out to see the condition of the deer and get it off the road. I was waiting on traffic to clear so I could drag it off the road and a young girl in a sedan reacted poorly and lost control off the hwy and into the ditch. She was up on 2 wheels briefly and if it had been a pickup or suv, I'm sure she would have flipped. She was very shaken up, but otherwise fine. Very scary to see up close and I used it as a teaching experience for the wife.
AvidIndoorsman
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That's awful... I'm so sorry
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