LIFE TRŠCA: We are not alone on the road – animals are with us too

Each of us is a daily participant in traffic when our journeys take us to school, work, the store, or elsewhere. Traffic regulations ensure our safety on the road – but besides people, animals also use the roads, unaware of these rules. As a result, roadkill is a frequent occurrence.

In Slovenia alone, 3,914 roe deer were hit by vehicles in 2024 – that’s about 11 per day. The number of amphibians killed on the roads exceeds 300,000 per year. Collisions also affect larger animals, such as deer and bears, as well as smaller ones, like hedgehogs, earthworms, and beetles. Fatal collisions also occur among flying animals – dragonflies, birds, and bats – but except for game species and large carnivores, roadkill data is not systematically collected at the national level.

With ongoing development and urbanization, the road network continues to expand, and traffic volume has increased by as much as 1,000% since 1970. Roads isolate animal populations, and traffic mortality contributes to their decline. The problem is often recognized too late – by the time certain species have already disappeared from the environment.

This issue is especially pronounced in large urban areas, where habitats are heavily degraded, but it is also present in smaller towns and rural areas, where roads cross rich natural habitats. Even low traffic volumes can cause high numbers of roadkills. In the Municipality of Cerknica, opportunistic data collection over a two-year period recorded roadkills of more than 38 animal species.

It is therefore crucial to adapt road infrastructure to allow animals to cross safely – through wildlife crossings, underpasses, modified traffic regimes, and traffic reduction measures. LIFE TRŠCA project will also address this issue, as only in this way can we preserve nature and ensure coexistence between humans and animals.