Animal–vehicle collisions cause many millions of animal deaths each year worldwide and present a substantial safety risk to people. In the United States and Canada, deer (Odocoileus spp.) are involved in most animal–vehicle collisions associated with human injuries. We evaluated a vehicle‐based collision mitigation method designed to decrease the likelihood of deer–vehicle collisions during low‐light conditions, when most collisions occur. Specifically, we investigated whether the use of a rear‐facing light, providing more complete frontal vehicle illumination than standard headlights alone, enhanced vehicle avoidance behaviors of white‐tailed deer (O. virginianus). We quantified flight initiation distance (FID), the likelihood of a dangerous deer–vehicle interaction (FID ≤ 50 m), and road‐crossing behavior of deer in response to an oncoming vehicle using only standard high‐beam headlights and the same vehicle using headlights plus an LED light bar illuminating the frontal surface of the vehicle. We predicted that frontal vehicle illumination would enhance perceived risk of deer approached by the vehicle and lead to more effective avoidance responses. We conducted 62 vehicle approaches (31 per lighting treatment) toward free‐ranging deer over ~14 months. Although FID did not differ across treatments, the likelihood of a dangerous deer–vehicle interaction decreased from 35% of vehicle approaches using only headlights to 10% of vehicle approaches using the light bar. The reduction in dangerous interactions appeared to be driven by fewer instances of immobility (freezing) behavior by deer in response to the illuminated vehicle (n = 1) compared with approaches using only headlights (n = 10). Because more deer moved in response to the illuminated vehicle, road‐crossing behavior likewise increased when the light bar was on, although these road crossings primarily occurred at FIDs > 50 m and thus did not increase collision risk. Road‐crossing behavior was influenced heavily by proximity to concealing cover; deer only crossed when the nearest cover was located on the opposite side of the road. We contend that frontal vehicle illumination via rear‐facing lighting has potential to greatly reduce vehicle collisions with deer and other species. Future work should explore fine‐tuning the method with regard to the visual capabilities of target species.

中文翻译：

---

通过后方照明实现车辆前部照明，减少了与白尾鹿发生碰撞的可能性

全世界每年发生的动物与车辆的碰撞导致数以百万计的动物死亡，并给人们带来巨大的安全风险。在美国和加拿大，鹿（Odocoileus spp。）参与了大多数与人类伤害有关的动物与车辆的碰撞。我们评估了一种基于车辆的碰撞缓解方法，该方法旨在减少发生大多数碰撞的低光照条件下鹿与汽车碰撞的可能性。具体而言，我们调查了是否使用后向照明灯（比单独的标准头灯提供更完整的正面车辆照明）是否增强了白尾鹿（O. virginianus）的避车行为）。我们量化了飞行起始距离（FID），危险的鹿与车辆互动的可能性（FID≤50 m）以及鹿对仅使用标准远光灯的迎面驶来的车辆和同一辆使用前大灯和LED灯条照亮了车辆的前表面。我们预测，正面车辆照明会增加车辆接近的鹿的感知风险，并导致更有效的回避反应。在大约14个月内，我们对自由放养的鹿进行了62次车辆进近（每次照明处理31次）。尽管FID在不同的处理方法之间没有差异，但是危险的鹿与车辆交互作用的可能性从仅使用前灯的车辆进近的35％降低到使用灯条的车辆进近的10％。n  = 1）与仅使用头灯的方法（n  = 10）相比。由于更多的鹿响应被照亮的车辆而移动，因此当灯条亮起时，过路行为同样会增加，尽管这些过路主要发生在FID> 50 m的情况下，因此不会增加碰撞风险。穿越道路的行为在很大程度上受隐蔽掩护的影响。只有当最近的遮盖物位于马路的另一侧时，鹿才越过。我们认为，通过后方照明对车辆进行前照照明有潜力极大地减少车辆与鹿和其他物种的碰撞。未来的工作应该探索关于目标物种视觉能力的方法的微调。