Road Kill in Rhode Island

Road Kill in East Greenwich

I feel awful when I think about it. Yesterday I hit a chipmunk with my car. Most of the time I give a quick honk to scare any animals off the road if I see them but in this case I saw the chipmunk a bit too late. It was so small, literally hugging the road’s surface when it dawned on me that this small “stick” was a living, breathing Tamias striatus or Eastern chipmunk. I review it in my head and yes, I beeped my horn and even minutely swerved a little, but I felt and heard a “thump” under my tire. I gasped and took a quick look in my rear view mirror hoping to see it scurry away but there was only a lifeless lump near the side of the road.  Unfortunately in East Greenwich, I am not alone.

Road Kill Data

Since 2002 I have had my students collect road kill data, analyze it and practice their graphing skills by hand and on computer. They graph the “Top Ten Road Killed Animals in East Greenwich”, the “Five Deadliest Streets” and the “Deadliest Quadrant” which is found by using the free map given out by the Chamber of Commerce. You can see this data near the bottom of a webpage at this link. http://bit.ly/nuxrvb 

Every year the data reveals things that are a bit different but there is one glaring constant. Squirrels are number one on the animals killed list. A quick addition exercise had me count 487 squirrels as road kill since 2002. Compare that number to 87 chipmunks killed in the same time and you can see the huge discrepancy. I think I found the crux as to why squirrels are always going to be number one for this study. Reproduction.

Gray squirrels mate twice a year giving birth to between 2 to 8 young. The first litter arrive in early spring and the next litter are born in June or July.  The only time we collect road kill data in East Greenwich is in the fall so there is a possibility that a lot of the sightings are of inexperienced squirrels trying to cross the street or of any squirrel trying to gather food to stock up for the upcoming winter. In addition, squirrels are most active at dawn and dusk when drivers are rushing to work or hurrying to come back home. Overall, it still remains a mystery and it is pretty sad to see any dead animal along the side of the road.

How to Avoid Hitting Animals

I have asked law enforcement officials what to do when you see an animal in the road. The answer is counterintuitive. Do not swerve. If you swerve, you risk going off the road or going into oncoming traffic. You could obviously injure yourself and others if you swerve. When I swerved yesterday, I made sure I stayed in my lane.  In addition to the non-swerve advice, brake gently and honk your horn if you have time.

But I believe one of the biggest ways to reduce road kill is to be aware. Be aware of the animals and of the time of day. Animals are most active at dawn and dusk so pay extra attention at those times. Just last year, I was driving along Carr’s Pond Road and my car was picking up speed around those bends. I realized that the sun was setting and I slowed my car down only to see two deer camouflaged by the side of the road a few minutes later. Lucky deer and lucky me.