While driving down the highway, you may have seen the body of a once living creature that had unfortunately been crossing the road. On highways across the world, collisions with large animals such as deer occur very frequently. These collisions are costing the government large sums of money and are taking away not only the lives of thousands of animals, but of people too.

In Newfoundland, there are 700 moose-vehicle collisions resulting in $1 million annually and 250 moose-vehicle collisions reported in New Brunswick. In Quebec there are 7000 collisions annually with deer, moose, caribou and black bears. One out of every 18 vehicle collisions involves a wild animal in Ontario. In Manitoba, 10, 475 total collisions involving animals were reported and $20.1 million was paid in wildlife claims. In Saskatchewan, $22.6 million was paid by Saskatchewan Government Insurance for the 9806 reported collisions. In Alberta, 11, 623 collisions occured which is an 80 percent rise from 1992. In British Columbia, 17,000 animals and two or three people are killed annually. For all of Canada, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that each year there are more than 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions. In those collisions, there were 150 occupant deaths, tens of thousands of injuries and over $1 billion in vehicle damage.

Combined as a group, polar bears, black bears, and grizzly bears are responsible for 5 to 10 human fatalities per year in North America and are thought to be one of the most dangerous animals in North America. However, compared to the 150 deaths per year caused by deer-vehicle collisions, the most dangerous animal is really the white tail deer. Though this problem is already bad, it is becoming worse. Since deer populations are thriving and vehicle miles traveled increase due to people moving to rural areas heavily populated by deer, collisions are becoming more frequent. This results in a growing number of insurance claims that contribute to escalating premiums.

There are many different methods that have been created to help solve this neglected problem. Some methods include signs, fences, underpasses, diversionary feeding areas, expanded hunting seasons, roadside reflectors and infrared technology. Signs inform motorists of the certain kind of animal on the road in the area. They are good for motorists unfamiliar with the area, but disregarded especially with those who travel the road frequently. Fences along areas where animals cross are expensive and not always effective because animals will establish alternate crossings. Underpasses are extremely expensive and equally as impractical. Expanded hunting seasons increase the limit on the number of animals hunters can take therefore decreasing the populations of deer and decreasing the number of collisions. Roadside reflectors reflect light from approaching vehicles headlights to create a low intensity red beam. This beam bounces across the roadway and into ditches and woods. It is invisible to drivers but visible to animals and the moving light patterns will stop them from crossing. The problem with many of these methods is that they must be installed at regular intervals along roads.

I plan to use near infrared technology in addition to normal car headlights to reduce animal-vehicle collisions. Infrared light has many advantages over other preventative measures. One advantage is that the system would be mounted on the car itself. That way, it wouldn’t have to be installed at regular intervals along roads. It will warn drivers when they need it instead of having to be installed permanently. Also, since infrared light is invisible to the human eye, I believe it will not blind other drivers travelling in the opposite direction like other high-powered headlights.

Firstly, what is infrared light? Infrared light is a type of light that we cannot see with our eyes. Infrared light has wavelengths that are longer than visible light but shorter than radio waves. There are many types of infrared light. Far infrared light is the farthest from visible light and known as thermal radiation or heat. Near infrared light is the closest to visible light. This light is not hot at all and you cannot even feel it. Near infrared light is what is used by your television remote control.

Infrared light was discovered in 1800 by William Herschel who was an amateur astronomer famous for discovering Uranus. He thought that colors might contain different levels of heat. Herschel tested this by passing sunlight through a glass prism to create a spectrum and measured the temperatures of the different colors. He had three thermometers with blackened bulbs. He placed one bulb in each color while the other two were placed outside the spectrum as controls. He noticed that all colors had temperatures higher than the controls and that the temperatures increased from violet to red part of the spectrum. Herschel also found that the temperature just beyond the red portion of the spectrum had the highest temperature of all. His experiment that found infrared light was the first experiment that showed that there were forms of light that weren’t visible to the human eye.