Forest Science Department, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil.
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Apr 11;14(4):e0215152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215152. eCollection 2019.
Direct road mortality and the barrier effect of roads are typically identified as one of the greatest threats to wildlife. In addition, collisions with large mammals are also a threat to human safety and represent an economic cost to society. We documented and explored the effects of animal-vehicle crashes on human safety in São Paulo State, Brazil. We estimated the costs of these crashes to society, and we summarized the legal perspectives. On average, the Military Highway Police of São Paulo reported 2,611 animal-vehicle crashes per year (3.3% of total crashes), and 18.5% of these resulted in human injuries or fatalities. The total annual cost to society was estimated at R$ 56,550,642 (US $ 25,144,794). The average cost for an animal-vehicle crash, regardless of whether human injuries and fatalities occurred, was R$ 21,656 (US $ 9,629). The Brazilian legal system overwhelmingly (91.7% of the cases) holds the road administrator liable for animal-vehicle collisions, both with wild and domestic species. On average, road administrators spent R$ 2,463,380 (US $ 1,005,051) per year compensating victims. The logical conclusion is that the Brazilian legal system expects road administrators to keep animals, both wild and domestic species, off the road. We suggest an improved coordination between the laws that relate to animal-vehicle collisions and human safety, and the process for environmental licenses that focusses on reducing collisions with wildlife and providing habitat connectivity. In addition, we suggest better management practices, raising awareness and social change with regard to abandoned domesticated animals including horses, cattle, and dogs. This should ultimately result in a road system with improved human safety, reduced unnatural mortality for both domestic and wild animal species, safe crossing opportunities for wildlife, and reduced monetary costs to society.
道路死亡率和道路的屏障效应通常被认为是对野生动物的最大威胁之一。此外，与大型哺乳动物的碰撞也是对人类安全的威胁，并代表着社会的经济成本。我们记录并探讨了巴西圣保罗州动物与车辆碰撞对人类安全的影响。我们估计了这些事故对社会造成的成本，并总结了法律观点。平均而言，圣保罗州军事公路警察每年报告 2611 起动物与车辆碰撞事故（占总事故的 3.3%），其中 18.5%导致人员受伤或死亡。社会总成本估计为 56550642 雷亚尔（25144794 美元）。无论是否发生人员伤亡，动物与车辆碰撞的平均成本为 21656 雷亚尔（9629 美元）。巴西法律制度绝大多数（91.7%的案件）认为道路管理者对动物与车辆碰撞负有责任，无论是野生还是家养物种。平均而言，道路管理者每年花费 2463380 雷亚尔（1005051 美元）来赔偿受害者。逻辑结论是，巴西法律制度期望道路管理者将野生动物和家养动物都挡在路上。我们建议改进与动物与车辆碰撞和人类安全相关的法律之间的协调，并改进环境许可证程序，重点减少与野生动物的碰撞并提供栖息地连通性。此外，我们建议更好的管理实践，提高对包括马、牛和狗在内的被遗弃的家养动物的认识和社会变革。这最终应该会导致一个人类安全得到改善、家养和野生动物非自然死亡率降低、野生动物安全穿越机会增加以及社会成本降低的道路系统。
