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road kill

 Devices that emit low frequency sound to warn animals of oncoming vehicles
 
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A simple low frequency receiving device should be fitted to roadside telephone lines or to stakes set at various intervals in a zig zag pattern on both sides of the road.

These should react electronically to a similarly simple, inexpensive device you could fit to you vehicle that would send subsonic pulses to the roadside devices in order to warn animals of oncoming danger. The device would only send out the signal once your car approached near enough to do potential harm.

This would, hopefully, cut down the amount of road kill we see on the open road.

—nixter, Feb 04 2003

"Deer whistles ineffective" http://www.advance.uconn.edu/02111812.htm
Referenced article because it contains some interesting notes about the hearing range of deer, and questions about animal behaviour with these sorts of 'notification' methods [waugsqueke, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

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       how fast can a hedgehog run?
—po, Feb 04 2003
   

       But how would I feed the kids?
—egbert, Feb 04 2003
   

       And how are you going to inform the animals about this little scheme?
—kropotkin, Feb 04 2003
   

       why, airdropped pamphlets, of course
—thumbwax, Feb 04 2003
   

       If the rumble of the car on the road, the noise from the engine, the glare from the headlights and the casualty rate isn't enough to dissuade small furry animals from crossing the road, then I doubt that they'll take much notice of any sort of warning system. What they might be more inclined to take notice of is the smell of predators, however. If stinky fox scent (or whatever the local predator is) was incorporated into the road material, perhaps the lovely, fluffy woodland creatures would be a bit more inclined to keep their paws off of the tarmac.
—DrBob, Feb 04 2003
   

       So it's baked in real life - except that it doesn't work. I don't know about that "subsonic" business, nixter. Perhaps we should take a look at waugs's article.
—snarfyguy, Feb 04 2003
   

       snarf, just to be clear - I'm not claiming this is baked by posting the article. I just thought there were some relevent facts and observations contained in it.   

       (Aside: note that this deer hearing and behaviour study was conducted by the National Undersea Research Center.)
—waugsqueke, Feb 04 2003
   

       Some good points here. I especially loved dag's question.   

       Okay, so it's not a good idea. What the hell.
—nixter, Feb 04 2003
   

       Well, it seems like it could be a good idea, but for now I think it's a WIBNI. When I first heard about the deer whistle device I thought it was a great idea. I do a fair amount of driving a couple of hours north of NYC, where deer on roads (esp at night) constitute a lethal problem, for them and us. I even clipped one myself once.   

       Too bad the whistle thing, while available, is by most accounts ineffective.   

       I'd love to know about something that works.
—snarfyguy, Feb 04 2003
   

       // I do a fair amount of driving a couple of hours north of NYC //   

       So do I, snarf. I might have passed ya on I-84 a few times.
—waugsqueke, Feb 04 2003
   

       // I'd love to know about something that works. //   

       A .30-06 ?   

       // just to have your ignition retard the spark momentarily and have the engine backfire //   

       Ooooh, good plan, [thcgenius]...... will your car also have a special mesh bag on the tailpipe to collect the fragments of your catalyst as they get blown out ?
—8th of 7, Feb 04 2003
   

       Waugs: That was you? Next time I'm not swerving out of the way at the last second; YOU are!
—snarfyguy, Feb 04 2003
   

       "Roll up ! Roll up ! Get your tickets here for the great Waugs/Snarfy 'Chicken' race ! Thrill to the sound of roaring engines and the smell of gasoline ! Cheer as the two racecars hurtle towards one another ! Gasp in amazement as the paramedics scrape the remains of the contestants off the landscape, and the firecrews drag the smoking wreckage away with tow trucks ! A truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ....."
—8th of 7, Feb 04 2003
   

       //I might have passed ya on I-84 a few times//

<shit stirring> waugs must've slowed down a few times to let snarfy catch up again.</shit stirring>
—DrBob, Feb 04 2003
   

       A Like RoadKIll
—althyr, Jun 20 2003
   


 

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