Wildlife awareness road signs legislation upgrade
At the 11th hour, Hotchi witchi gets extra protection from traffic
Lucy England
The Department for Transport made some rule changes on December 22nd 2023, in order to make it easier for local authorities to put up wildlife warning signs at the roadsides.
The idea is that the signs will be placed at wildlife hotspots to alert motorcyclists and drivers to places where wildlife needs to get across dangerous roads. Hopefully they will then be more aware that wildlife may be on the road, and ride or drive with more care. Tragically, Britain is one of the most wildlife depleted countries in the world, so any measures to try and help preserve the little creatures we have left living in the wild, is long overdue. Sad to say hedgehogs have now been added to the wildlife red list as they are now in such catastrophic decline in the UK.
The idea is, obviously, that more signs might protect wildlife better, and thus help to boost rapidly declining numbers.
The current hedgehog warning sign is getting an update too, to make it even clearer to drivers, so that hopefully they can’t miss it, and can miss them!
Basically the DfT rules around putting up wildlife warning signs, have been relaxed as of December 2023, so that not so many hoops have to be jumped through just to get the signs up. Now local authorities can put small animal warning signs up where they are needed, without having to apply to the DfT on a case by case basis.
The Transport Secretary Mark Harper went to the Tiggywinkles Wildlife hospital in Buckinghamshire to visit some of the little rescuees being treated there. Many hedgehogs there were being treated for road traffic accidents. He also witnessed one of the more photogenic hedgehogs having its picture taken in front of the newly designed road sign.
After seeing the work going on there Mark harper said:
“It was an absolute pleasure to see behind the scenes at the famous Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, where I witnessed the incredible work they do to heal a wide range of wildlife.
These common-sense changes will lead to more small animal signs across the country, cutting down on bureaucracy to help protect both drivers and small animals, improving safety on our roads and making sure fewer casualties are checked into wildlife hospitals like these.”
The actual sign itself has had a refresh with white spikes being added to the hedgehog to make it look more noticeable and eye catching. Hedgehog numbers have declined by between 30% and 75% in rural areas since 2000 and one of the main causes of the decimation is traffic.
It is nice to see that an attempt is being made to help, and hopefully it will lead to a bit more awareness of small things trying to cross roads, and lead to a reduction in casualties arriving at places like Tiggywinkles.
What do you think about this story? Are you in favour of more wildlife awareness road signs and do you think it will help? Let us know your thoughts at [email protected] or on Facebook.
EN