Public input solicited for ways to make BC highways safer for people and wildlife
By Contributor
Many of us spend a considerable amount of time driving on BC’s highways, and most of us have opinions about those highways and suggestions to make them safer for both people and wildlife.
The Ministry of Transportation has provided the public with an opportunity to comment on safety issues on BC’s highways. This includes speed limits, slow-moving vehicles, wildlife hazards, and winter tire safety.
I encourage you to take this opportunity to provide input about stretches of highway where you most frequently encounter wildlife and any additional comments you may have about wildlife collision prevention (or any of the other safety issues).
The deadline for comments is Friday, January 24, 2014.
The website where you can find more information on the Ministry’s consultation process is here.
Feedback can be provided in one of the following ways:
• Online: http://engage.gov.bc.ca/safetyandspeedreview/provide-feedback/
• Email: safetyandspeedreview@gov.bc.ca
• Telephone: 1-855-974-1330
Prior to providing your input, you may wish to look through the Discussion Guide and Feedback Form, which provides an overview of the process, a description of the issues that MoT wishes to address, and maps and specific information on the highway segments under review. Information on wildlife collisions is found on page 7 of the Discussion Guide.
The format of the review is very straightforward.
BC has been broken down into seven regions, and the highways within each region are grouped into highway segments. For example, in the Northern Region, there are nine large highway segments.
For each highway segment, you are provided with basic information about the highway (length of highway, predominant posted speed, range of posted speeds, # of lanes, average daily traffic, % truck traffic, collision rate, and average annual wildlife collisions per kilometre).
There are three multiple-choice questions about each stretch of highway.
1. For each highway segment – should the speed limits increase, decrease or stay the same?
2. For each highway segment – how frequently do you find wildlife to be a safety concern?
3. For each highway segment – how frequently do you find slow moving vehicles to be a safety concern?
You may add specific comments on any highway section that you like. This is where you would add comments regarding specific stretches of highway that are high risk for wildlife vehicle collisions about which you are concerned.
You only have to complete the sections on the stretches of highway in which you are most interested.
If you do not want to complete the MoT form, you can email your specific concerns and comments to safetyandspeedreview@gov.bc.ca
It is important that the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure receive input from the driving public and interested stakeholders regarding their concerns about wildlife hazards on the highways.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this public consultation.
Please distribute this email to others who are interested in wildlife collision prevention
Gayle Hesse B.Sc. R.P.Bio. is the coordinator for the Wildlife Collision Prevention Program, British Columbia Conservation Foundation.
