Utah DOT Goes High-Tech with Pilot Program for Deer-Vehicle Collision Avoidance System

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- JAFA Technologies, Inc. and Austrian partner IPTE announced today that DeerDeter, a U.S. Joint Venture, participated in supporting deployment of a Pilot Program for Utah Department of Transportation. In addition to 70 units purchased by UDOT at a reduced price, another 30 were provided free of charge to facilitate deployment over an expanded test area. The JV is providing the support in anticipation of getting objective, verifiable test results of the system's performance in reducing Deer Vehicle Collisions (DVC).

The 100 deployed units are activated by approaching headlights to set off a sound and strobe light that represents movement to the encroaching animal. This dual-sensory roadside technology deters deer from continuing across the road as they stop to assess and evaluate the unusual sound and flashing light. Since the unit is activated only by an approaching vehicle, animals are not prompted to stop and pause at times when they do not present a danger to traffic, thus allowing their safe travel along preferred routes. The "brains" of the unit is a durable circuit board promising years of sustained performance at low cost in terms of both initial installation and follow-on maintenance. Further, the units can be reprogrammed with different sounds to avoid animals becoming desensitized to a specific stimulus.

Chet Johnson, local Roadway Operations Supervisor for UDOT in Monticello, is the test manager and selected the area for deployment. The specified 1.5-mile test area has experienced a significant number of reported carcasses and is part of a larger 30-mile stretch of Highway 191 where wildlife migration is common, with as many as 300 carcasses reported in a single year. The specified test area for deployment had more than 130 carcasses reported from 2005 through 2009. The actual number of accidents could be higher since the number of carcasses does not account for those accidents that do not result in a dead animal or where the animal dies away from the roadside.

In addition to comparing reported carcass statistics from previous control periods, UDOT is deploying Infrared-activated cameras at some locations in an attempt to record and evaluate how the animal reacts to the unit through observation. Although there have been no reported carcasses in the test area since the units were deployed in early May, it is far too early to draw any conclusions. As a result, UDOT cannot make any statement as to the product's performance at this time and will make a determination for further deployment once sufficient test data has been gathered.

The DeerDeter system was successfully tested in the U.S. in an exceptionally hazardous area in Springfield Township, New Jersey, near Ft. Dix Army Base. The system has also been deployed by the E-470 Highway Authority in Denver, Colorado and in Essex County, New Jersey. DeerDeter Wildlife Crossing Guards are in production with about 4000 devices deployed in and around Austria as a deterrent to keep animals of all types from crossing roads with a reported 75% to 100% effectiveness in reducing accidents.  

More information about the DeerDeter system is available by contacting Ed Mulka, JAFA Technologies, Inc., at 856-206-9427 or by email to [email protected].

http://www.DeerDeter.com

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SOURCE JAFA Technologies, Inc.