| Abstract [eng] |
Summary Vilma Vildaitė, Master‘s Thesis in Environmental Studies and Management / Supervisor Doc.dr. G.Ignatavičius. "The Research of Effectiveness of Applied and Alternative Management Systems/Devices to Prevent Road Accidents Caused by Large Mammals of Highway A2 (Vilnius-Panevėžys) for a Period from January 1, 2002 to December 1, 2009" Vilnius:Vilnius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Center of Ecology and Environment Research, 2010. Each year car collisions with wild animals (which sometimes end tragically) make a significant proportion of all road accidents. This research raises a problem of car accidents with wild mammals involved, when people or wild animals are injured or killed. This issue is important both in Lithuania and worldwide. All around the world various safety devices/measures are implemented on highways and other country roads to reduce car accidents caused by wild animals. The most common ones are metal fences, road lights, warning road signs, ultrasonic whistles, roadside vegetation management, underground culverts, "green bridges", repellents, reflectors. The object of this research is the highway A2 (Vilnius -Panevėžys) in Lithuania. The objective of the work is to find out the effectiveness of already existing, being implemented or alternative safety/precaution systems against large wild mammals on this road. Currently there is a great variety of safety measures already set up on the highway A2 (Vilnius - Panevėžys), such as warning road signs, metal mesh fences (163,30 km of the highway fenced), two-leaved gate, "deer grid" entries into forest byways, three underground culverts for large animals (21,76 km, 37,83 km, 68,8 km), escape ramps. The work presents the analysis of car accidents on the highway A2 (Vilnius - Panevėžys) where large wild mammals were involved. The data for this analysis were taken from Vilnius, Širvintos, Ukmergė and Panevėžys regional Police departments/stations. In total, during the research period (01 01 2002 - 01 12 2009) there were 379 car collisions with wild animals registered, in 290 cases large mammals were present. Also the research paper includes a brief analysis of registered car accidents involving wild mammals in Širvintos, Ukmergė and Panevėžys regional roads where no safety measures except for warning road signs are implemented. According to the number of registered in the police car collisions with wild animals, the research on the highway A2 (Vilnius - Panevėžys) was carried out. There were scrutinized the most crucial (7 and more collisions) segments of the highway, specifying the kilometer and the side of the road as well as the number of collisions. Most offten car collisions with large wild mammals on the highway A2 (Vilnius - Panevėžys) over the period 01 01 2002 - 01 12 2009 were registered in accordance with: the kind of an animal – roe (186 car accidents); season – spring and autumn; the time of a day – early morning and evening. During the period 01 01 2002 - 01 12 2009 on the highway A2 (Vilnius – Panevėžys) 5 (valid) car collisions with large wild mammals (moose) were registered in which one person died and four people were injured. 72 car accidents involving wild animals were registered on the regional roads of Širvintos district over the period 01 01 2003 - 01 12 2009. On the regional roads of Ukmergė district there were 63 car accidents with wild animals registered from 01 01 2005 till 01 12 2009. On the regional roads of Panevėžys district there were 164 car collisions with wild mammals registered over the period 01 01 2006 – 01 12 1009. Poorly prepared places for implementation and its specificity may reduce the efficiency of safety measures. Alternative methods are selected according to certain biological aspects of animals: migration routes, grouping places, different activity at different times of a day and season. |
