Thirteenth installation
The Province of Perugia continues its commitment to preventing road accidents caused by wildlife. The Province recently installed its thirteenth device, designed specifically to reduce vehicle collisions with wild animals (primarily wild boars and ungulates). The device was installed near the town of Pianello, in the municipality of Perugia, along the SR 318 (KM 8+500).
LIFE STRADE
The project is part of the LIFE STRADE – LIFE11BIO/IT/072 project. The installed device, like others already present throughout the road network managed by the Province, is next-generation, using a Doppler camera that records the arrival of vehicles up to 500 meters away. "The Province of Perugia," explains Gianluca Moscioni, provincial councilor responsible for roads, "is one of the very few in Italy to have experimented with and believed in this highly effective project since 2014 to combat collisions with wildlife. For over ten years, we have mapped critical collision points on the provincial road network and studied the ecological corridors traveled by wildlife. This plan, in fact, goes towards protecting wildlife and biodiversity, as well as protecting road users."
A scientific work
"LIFE STRADE," said Francesca Pasquino, Councilor for the Pet Help Desk, "is not a cosmetic project. It is a scientific, methodical, and locally rooted effort, for which we thank the Provincial offices, particularly surveyor Lanfranco Ghiani and director Andrea Rapicetta. What the project has taught us is that solutions exist. Road safety and animal welfare are not just a technical issue, but a matter of civilization. How we treat wild animals and how we consider them when designing a road, planning infrastructure, and organizing traffic, says a lot about us as a society. But the Province's goal is also another: continuity. This is why we have transformed the 2014 pilot project into standard practice."
How sensors work
From a strictly technical standpoint, the system is equipped with energy-independent thermal sensors that can detect the presence of animals on the roadside and activate a light to alert passing vehicles, encouraging them to slow down. If the driver doesn't slow down, an acoustic deterrent system kicks in, reproducing the sound of a wild boar hunt, scaring the animal away (source: Province of Perugia).
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