To commemorate Threatened Species Day on 7 September this year, Roadkilltas.com (the website that provides tools to help drivers in Tasmania make their journeys wildlife friendly) and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust launched a Metro bus-back advertising campaign to get the message to Hobart’s drivers regarding slowing down to save wildlife.
Roadkilltas.com creator Chloe Lucas designed the bus-back advertisements to target drivers who may be convinced to slow down because it will save them money in insurance or repair bills as well as save the lives of animals. It may also save their lives.
The road toll for wildlife is huge – almost 300,000 animals killed on the roads every year, including up to 3000 endangered Tasmanian Devils, but not everyone is convinced to slow down by this fact alone. Every year, motorists are killed and injured in collisions with wildlife, which also cause over $5 million damage to vehicles. There are good reasons to say ‘Watch out for wildlife – it could save your life!’
CSIRO scientist Dr Alistair Hobday has been researching safe stopping distances for Tasmanian native animals and his key findings have been incorporated into the advertisements.
Dr Hobday found that, when you are driving on country roads at night, keeping your speed to 60 km/hr when your headlights are on low-beam, and 80 km/hr with your headlights on high beam gives you the best chance of avoiding wildlife on the road. We hope that this message will give drivers encouragement that they can significantly reduce animal collisions by reducing speed marginally. It is important to tell drivers that the problem is not impossible to solve. Roadkill can be reduced and you do not have to give up driving to do it.
Visit Roadkilltas.com online or on facebook for more tools to help drivers avoid wildlife collisions, including roadkill black spots to download to your SatNav.
The bus-back education campaign is supported by the RACT Community Fund. At the launch of the adverstiement the RACT General Manager Roadside and Technical Services, Darren Moody says that ‘RACT are very happy to support this project as part of our ongoing commitment to reducing roadkill in Tasmania’. The TCT and Roadkilltas.com both thankthe RACT for their generous grant.
We currently have funding for one bus-back advertisement in Hobart until the end of 2012. With further funding we want to continue the advertisement in Hobart and expand it into other regions of Tasmania. If you want to donate money toward this bus-back campaign please contact the TCT office: Phone 03 6234 3552 or email tct.administration@gmail.com