{"id":20409,"date":"2019-12-03T14:23:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T21:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=61859"},"modified":"2019-12-03T14:23:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T21:23:21","slug":"tips-for-safely-navigating-winter-wildlife-encounters-on-wet-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/tips-for-safely-navigating-winter-wildlife-encounters-on-wet-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for safely navigating winter wildlife encounters on wet roads"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Motorists need to be aware of the potential for animal encounters on winter roads, warns the Colorado State Patrol.<\/strong>
Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s an all too familiar sight for many Colorado drivers: glowing eyes, reflecting the vehicle\u2019s headlights surrounded by darkness and swirling snow.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s enough to make one\u2019s heart rate rise, but there are ways to stay calm and avoid colliding with unsuspecting deer, elk, bighorn or moose in a car\u2019s path.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, winter months see more wildlife killed on the roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cWildlife, particularly big game, especially now that we\u2019ve had significant snows, are making their way or have made their way from the high country to lower elevations to forage for food and water,\u201d said Lisa Schwantes, a Colorado Department of Transportation spokesperson.<\/p>\n

That means more animals crossing the road in wildlife corridors.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, Schwantes reminds drivers to stay alert, especially in areas where large animals tend to hang out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always advise motorists to be very diligent when driving, particularly in rural areas where big game tends to congregate. You\u2019ll see herds along the highway; it\u2019s not an uncommon sight,\u201d Schwantes said.<\/p>\n

Second, the risk of colliding with an animal should be another reason to reduce speed over slick roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re driving on icy roadways or snow-packed roadways, slow it down,\u201d Schwantes said.<\/p>\n

Slippery roads from snowpack and ice, and poor visibility from blowing snow can make the chances of accidentally hitting a deer, elk, or moose even more likely. The first thing a driver should do when encountering an animal on slippery roads is to let off the accelerator, according to Schwantes.<\/p>\n

Slamming on the brake could lead to sliding off the road and potentially worse injury.<\/p>\n

Also, having a spotter in the car is also helpful for winter driving, particularly at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have the luxury of traveling with a passenger, it\u2019s good to have that person be your extra set of eyes so they can scan the landscape and alert you if you\u2019re coming up on something,\u201d Schwantes said.<\/p>\n

Road projects making a difference?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A number of construction projects across the state aimed at keeping wildlife off the roads may be making a difference in animal-car collisions, Schwantes said.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the 2018 data isn\u2019t reliable so it is difficult to confirm a downward trend.<\/p>\n

In CDOT\u2019s region 3<\/a>, which encompasses the northwestern part of Colorado, 1,055 animals were reported as killed on the road, but that figure is missing three months of data.<\/p>\n

A ransomware attack on CDOT discovered in February 2018<\/a> compromised some data, so the most recent roadkill report does not include figures from January to March.<\/p>\n

Still, there has been some decline<\/a> in the number of animals killed on the roads in region 3 between 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n

From 2013 to 2016, the number of reported animals killed on roads in northwest Colorado rose from 1,600 to nearly 2,100. The following year saw some decline to about 1,800 reported roadkill, a decline that Schwantes attributes to a number of wildlife overpasses, underpasses and deer fencing installed in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese measures, the wildlife structures, are really making a positive impact in the number of animal-vehicle crashes that are happening,\u201d Schwantes said.<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Motorists need to be aware of the potential for animal encounters on winter roads, warns the Colorado State Patrol.Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times It\u2019s an all too familiar sight for many Colorado drivers: glowing eyes, reflecting the vehicle\u2019s headlights surrounded by darkness and swirling snow. It\u2019s enough to make one\u2019s heart rate rise, but there are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 07:40:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}