The Assessment of Roadside (Agricultural and Non-Agricultural) Habitats’ Effects on Wildlife’s Road Casualties and an Analysis on the Views of Drivers

The collision of vehicles with animals on the roads is a globally common occurrence and mostly happens due to the destruction and fragmentation of wildlife habitats. The present research has studied some parts of the Asian International Road, located in eastern Iran, to analyze the effects of roadside habitats on roads’ wildlife casualties and the drivers' views on the subject. The statistical population was the intercity drivers of Taybad City and the data collection tools were direct observations, researcher-made questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Using SPSS software, non-parametric Mann Whitey U, and Spearman's Rank tests, the results showed that the highest road wildlife deaths were related to small mammals, but larger mammals and birds, and reptiles were also observed. Significant correlations were determined between amounts of casualties in different months, between accidents’ day-time, and between the number of casualties and the type of habitat surrounding the road. Mortalities were significantly reduced by converting roadside lands into agricultural ecosystems. The results showed that drivers have not received any type of wildlife protection training, but had great empathy for them. They cited high speed, road traffic, and the size of animals as the most common causes of accidents.