Years ago I drove into Tampa along a lonely stretch of road called Morris Bridge Road. Every morning there would be a disturbing number of dead animals along it. I personally did everything in my power to avoid hitting anything (there is a racoon on US301 that owes me his life since I nearly lost mine!) So I spent a lot of time thinking about it. Maybe a device that would be like a license plate on the front bumber, emitting ultrasonic sounds and infrared light? Wild colors, loud sounds, & flashing lights might displace the animals from the road area until things quieted down. You may not want it on in town (dogs!), but definitely at night on the open road. What scares a deer???
I agree
No opinion
I disagree
Add your comment
Good Idea. I live in Western Pennsylvania and deer kills on the road are high. There are devices called deer whistles which you can mount to the front of your car and as the air goes through them, they emit a high pitched whistle that supposedly repels animals however not sure if they really work...something that did work would save insurance companies and us millions.
I like the idea of turning it off around dogs. If they get run over then they won't poop at my house any more.
Alas for the poor benighted Doodles. In Australia we've had this problem for years. In winter cattle come out to sleep on the roads because they're warmer, as well as assorted macropods asserting their independence and right-of-way.
We buy small (3cm long) supersonic whistles that are fitted to the front bumper. You can't hear them but they but off any interlopers very effectively.
I had a similar idea a few years ago while driving to and from university on a country road. There were just too many dead animals. If the device could be programmed to emit predator sounds of a certain region, perhaps most animals would stay away. Perhaps linked to a sensor, the sounds would be emitted only when an animal is detected trying to cross the road. (There are a lot of cows along this road that I wouldn't want to bother though.) Country animals must get used to the sound of passing cars which perhaps to them sound more like a strange gust of wind than a dangerous object. Perhaps we need only to alter the sound a car makes (at high or low frequencies, if this makes more sense) so that a passing car sounds like something new to the animal. Simply randomizing these frequencies might be effective.
Animals have different survival instincts. Take deer, they instinctually wait until a preditor is upon them and then they bolt in a direction perpendicular to where the preditor is coming from. So for cars, they will either bolt out into the woods, or across the clearing which is in front of your car. Instinctually they will stand still to hide from the preditor until the preditor is almost upon them. I wonder if scent would be a better deterent. Let's say the smell of a mountain lion dripping out slowly on the ground; it won't help you, but it might help everyone behind you.
They sell ultra-sonic emitters at Wal-Mart for 10 dollars. Maybe you should get out more.