It’s fall in Pennsylvania, and that carries a special meaning here in the commonwealth: It’s deer collision season. A recent State Farm report found that Pennsylvania drivers have a 1 in 54 chance of hitting an animal when driving. Of course, it’s a safety issue for the animals, but it is also a public safety issue for drivers, as anyone who has hit a deer could tell you.

Luckily, there is a solution. Wildlife corridors, or any strategy that connects two pieces of wild habitat together, serve the dual purpose of connecting animal populations and keeping our roads safe. A wildlife corridor ranges from something as simple as planting milkweed for monarchs to a forested highway overpass for deer and other animals to cross the road and get to the other side (no pun intended).

It’s time to commit to protecting public safety on the roads. Collisions are avoidable; forested highway animal crossings have been shown to reduce collisions in multiple other states. Pennsylvania owes it to its animals and its people to explore this commonsense solution instead of letting drivers take a 1 in 54 risk every time they get on the road.

Erin Bachmeier

Upper Hill

The writer is a field organizer with PennEnvironment.

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