The use of mirrors has been so successful at eliminating collisions between animals and cars, reported newspaper Adresseavisen this week, that the national railroad agency Jernbaneverket is interested in adopting the practice to keep wildlife off train tracks.
The mirror idea came from Mentz Skjetne, who drives emergency vehicles himself and knows the financial, human and wildlife costs of collisions between animals and vehicles. He has also seen first-hand the effect that light has on animals, how it scares them and makes them run away.
Skjetne figured that hanging simple mirrors along the road would reflect passing headlights, bounce the light into the forest and keep wildlife away from the road before the vehicles pass.
Mirrors were strung up three years ago along a 500-meter stretch of the busy E6 highway at Krokan, north of Oppdal. The mirrors dangle freely about six meters from the road on both sides and move with the breeze.
Not a single collision involving vehicles and wildlife has been recorded in the area since the mirrors were hung.
"I would never have dreamed that the number of animals hit by cars and trucks would go from 25 to 30 a year to nothing," said Skjetne.
He was quick to stress that the most effective means of avoiding collisions between animals and vehicles remains the clearance of trees and bushes away from roadsides. But the mirrors seem to be a major deterrent as well.
"The results far exceed what we had hoped for," said Arild Hoel of Oppdal County. "If you look at the overall economics of this, the mirrors are worth their weight in gold, not least in relation to the injuries we avoid."
