Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — There are a few thousand vehicle-animal collisions on Utah roads every year, which range in severity.
There were 2,383 types of these crashes in Utah last year alone, according to the Utah Department of Transportation. This number fluctuates annually but has ranged between 2,300 and 3,100 every year over the past five years.
These crashes have resulted in dozens of serious injuries and at least six deaths among humans in recent years, in addition to countless wildlife and livestock deaths and injuries. Vehicle-animal collisions are also very, very costly.
"The cost estimates vary, but there are up to $138 million a year to Utah citizens who are suffering property damage and medical costs," said Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, during a legislative committee meeting last month.
"And it's an issue that's going to be growing as our population increases, as our road network expands and as our wildlife habitats become more fractionated," he added.
The rising number of crashes and likelihood for future crashes is why UDOT is now required to include wildlife and livestock mitigation analyses in its annual report to state legislators. The report, which is to be delivered by Nov. 30 every year, already includes other topics such as operation, maintenance, condition, mobility and safety of Utah roads.
Gov. Spencer Cox signed HB427 on Monday, adding wildlife mitigation impacts to the list of items the annual UDOT report must contain.
The agency is well aware of the problem and already tracks this type of data; however, it's not very public, said Owens, the bill's sponsor, when he first introduced it in a legislative committee meeting. Since these figures are already tallied and the report is provided every year, the law change doesn't result in any new tasks or costs, state officials determined.
But given its importance and growing relevancy with every project, Owens said he wants the figures to be more transparent, so residents and organizations are aware of trends and can offer new ideas to help reduce the number of crashes.
"They are already doing it, so this provides the agency to really have the avenue to express its intention in regards to the issue — to publicize its thinking and planning about it," Owens said. "It's a catalyst for involving the public in thinking about those decisions."
Leif Elder, UDOT's deputy director of policy, said the agency not only tracks the number of crashes each ear but also the location of each crash, which helps dictate where mitigation projects are positioned. For example, animal collision data led UDOT to look into a wildlife overpass over I-80 at Parleys Canyon, which opened in 2018. With a trail camera situation over it, the agency found that over 700 animals crossed the bridge last year.
There are a handful of similar overpasses and underpasses across the state designed for animals to cross major highways and freeways because traffic collisions have been costly for wildlife, as they have been for humans.
The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah in Ogden received 3,689 sick, wounded or orphaned birds, reptiles and small mammals from the northern Utah area last year. While not all cases are because of vehicles, its founder told KSL.com earlier this year that the growing number of buildings and homes are partly why behind the rising number of new cases the center receives.
New roads and development are also behind some of Utah's deer decline. Biologists say deer between one and two years old are most vulnerable to being hit by cars on roadways.
Meanwhile, the bill had no pushback from UDOT, which helped it sail through the legislative process without any issues. The Utah House of Representatives and Senate both passed it unanimously with votes on Feb. 25 and March 4, before Cox signed it into law Monday.
During a House Transportation Committee hearing on Feb. 24, Elder said the agency was indifferent toward the law change.
"We are definitely for safe roads and wildlife mitigation. … (The law change) would be a small extension to that annual report," he said. "This would give the data a little bit more light and start the conversations, perhaps. So, it could be a good thing."
