DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING OF A NEW PREVENTION SYSTEM OF WILDLIFE ROAD KILLS IN CENTRAL

Simone Ricci-Progetto Life Strade OBJCETIVES

Installation of 15 prevention systems in the project area

Test the funcionality and efficacy of the system

Understunding future implementation of the prevention system MONITORING ACTIONS

Compilation and analysis of AVC before project implementation

Monitoring of AVC in 4 road tracks (250 Km) in each Province (at least 2 tmes/month)

Assesment of wildlife presence and behaviour

Analysis of traffic volume in the selected road tracks THE FUNCTIONING OF AVC PREVENTION SYSTEM ANIMAL DETECTION SENSORS

PIR sensors Powering : Solar Panel or battery Coverage: up to 20 m Solar panel: contnuous detection 0 Angle 90 Battery: Standby 2 minutes Possibility to add “infinte” number of sensors CENTRAL UNIT

PLC Program Logic controller Installed on a pole on the Powering 12 V roadside in central position respect to the road 2 Batteries 12V 24 Ah segment “surveyed”

Solar Panel 50 W WARNIN SIGNS FOR DRIVERS

Batteries 15 Ah Radar Doppler Solar Panel 30 W Coverage 200 m Two alternating flashing light Angle 110 ACOUSTIC SCARING DEVICE

Scaring devices – Duration of 30 seconds Acoustic scaring devices: 2 x 30 watt MP3 SD audio card MODEM

ISends information about

Charging level of the battery of the central unit

Activations of the sensors

Activations of the acoustic scaring device INFORMATION FOR DRIVERS

3 specific panels

1 general

2 e 3 to inform about the functioning of the prevention system

The positioning of the panel was established in order to capture drivers attention

PROVINCIA DATE LOCALIZATION

Provincia di 1 17/01/2014 SS74–CastelGiorgio 2 25/11/2014 SP99– 3 20/10/2015 SP 32 – Penna in Teverina 4 16/07/2016 SS 74- Provincia di 1 9/07/2014 SS 3 – Fossato di Vico 2 16/07/2014 SS 3 – Costacciaro Provincia di Siena 1 23/09/2014 Casoled’ElsaSP541Km14,700–Casoled’Elsa 2 23/09/2014 SP541Km7,400–ColleVald’Elsa 3 23/09/2014 SP3-Casoled’Elsa Provincia di Grosseto 1 5/12/2013 SP40-Grosseto 2 22/10/2015 SP158-CastigliondellaPescaia 3 22/10/2015 SP64-CasteldelPiano Provincia di Pesaro Urbino 1 20/07/2015 SP 3 bis 1- Montecalvo in Foglia 2 20/07/2015 SP 3bis 2 - Montecalvo in Foglia 3 21/07/2015 SP3-Cagli

S.R. 3 PERUGIA PROVINCE S.P. 99 TERNI PROVINCE S.P. 40 GROSSETO PROVINCE S.P 3 SIENA PROVINCE S.P. 3 Pesaro-Urbino Province TESTING FUNCTIONALITY OF THE SYSTEM

SYSTEM EVALUATION

Number of sensor activation = number of times animals area near the road

Number of acoustic scaring device activations = vehicle passages when animals are near the road

RISK SITUATION ASSESMENT SYSTEM S.P. 40

June 2014 – August 2016 = 570 Sensors activations days (n=1695) Scaring device activations System activations = 448 days (n=774) (79%) 2007-2013 = 28 reported road kills

Numbers of activations due to No monitoring actvity in place animal presence = 1695 20014-2016 = 0 reported road kills Numbers of vehicles passages when animals were near the 1 wild boar found dead during monitoring road = 774 activity GENERAL RESULTS

Up to now no “official” collision occured

4 animals found dead but in 2 cases the systems are not working

Mean number working days of the 15 systems per month = 10

Mean number of vehicle passages when animals are near the road = 20

TESTING OF INFRARED CAMERA

From August 2016 we start to test an infrared camera to detect animal presence

Detection until 130 m

Detection area can be programmed by the user

Image analyzer programmble for size and movement

Avi video format stored on SD support

Up to 8 jpg images sent by e-mail for each activation INFRARED CAMERA vs PIR SENSORS

Higher accuracy in animal detection (up to a mouse)

Greater coverage

Video feedback for each activation (also movement direction)

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

From 11/08-18/09 = 1507 activations

75% (n = 1131) = “true” activations

862 = activations due to animal presence

269 = vehicle passages in the 3 minutes after animal detection

22±15 = mean (±sd) number of animal detections per day

10±11= mean (±sd) number of vehicle passages after 3 minutes from animal detection per day

At least 71 times we registerd an animal on the road GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Advantages: - Allows permeability of the roads - Reduces risk of habituation for animals and drivers - Provides real-time information about activations - Suitable for risk hot spots

Disadvantages: - Not suitable for long road segments - Technically demanding - Needs constant maintenance - Questionable effect on the driving behaviour FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

Testing new solutions for speed reduction

Testing new solutions to scare wildlife

Integration with GPS navigator Special thanks to…

Gianpaolo Pollini Claudio Carletti Adriano Pelliccia Polizia Provinciale (Orvieto, Amelia), Sevizio Viabilità

Luca Convito Lanfranco Ghiani Gianni Casagrande Agostino Casagrande Giorgio Tani e gli altri agenti della polizia provinciale

Gianpiero Pinassi Domitilla Nonis Cristina Dottarelli Andrea Benocci Ilaria Angelini Francesca Sassetti la Polizia Provinciale e tutto il servizio viabilità (Fabio Conti, Luca Stanghini, Leonardo Bartalucci) Alessandra Traetto Cesarino Paci Michela Pacassoni Giovanni Giuliani Fabrizio Montoni Sandro Sorbini Marco Giannoni Luciano Lombardi e il personale del CRAS Valter Nunziatini Cristiana Natali Paolo Stefanini Pietro Giovacchini Giulio Martellini Carlo Massetti Sergio Piccioni Stefano Fatarella Cristina Attili Tamara Fattorini Special thanks to…

Barbara Borchiellini Giuseppina Lombardi Paolo Sargenti Francesco Grohmann Roberto Beretta

Michele Buttieri e tutto il personale della società

E naturalmente Annette Roberta Gloriana e Umberto…….