Night Driving Hazard: Full Moon Turns Roads into Animal Crossings!

Night Driving Hazard: Full Moon Turns Roads into Animal Crossings!
Night Driving Hazard: Full Moon Turns Roads into Animal Crossings!Credit | Getty images

United States: Driving at night during a full moon can be more dangerous for animals. A study in Texas found that there is a 45.8 percent increase in wildlife-vehicle collisions when the moon is full compared to when it is new. This is especially true in rural areas, where there are more animals on the move. So, it’s important to be extra careful while driving during a full moon!

To arrive at this conclusion, the researchers collated collision data for the period 2004; 2005, and 2006 across Texas and found out more collisions happened during the full moon than in the new moon when there is little or no light.

As reported by newsweek.com, the previous studies have identified similar trends in Spain, Canada, and Lithuania and that is why the researchers sought to establish if the same Pheasant occurring during full moon in Texas.

In this case, the researcher contrasted what he termed as genuinely dark nights with no moon lighting (new moon) with as dark nights with full moon lighting, according to study co-author Kentaro Iio, a former student at Texas A&MUniversity. “If other lunar phases are incorporated into the evaluation, they rise at different times each day, and as such, it gets tricky in attempts to compare Organizations.

The researchers discovered that average number of wildlife-vehicle collisions increases almost by 46 percent during the full moon nights, however, there was no remarkable increase identified in other types of collisions including vehicle-vehicle or vehicle-vehicle-people collisions. It was identified by the study that certain areas, High Plains, South Texas, Central Texas, Upper East, had even higher rates of collisions on full moon night which were between 57.8 per cent to 125 per cent.

The researchers advise they believe that such an increase in the rate of accidents involving wildlife could be attributed to factors such as, increased wildlife activity during the full moon and driver fatigue at night.

As much as there is improved illumination, it’s nighttime,” said study co-author Dominique Lord, a professor at Texas A&M in the statement. “When you drive at night I am not quite convinced that the light from varied advantage positions is much better than in the day light.”

“The full collision ratios in rural areas slightly exceeded that of the full moon in urban areas,” Iio stated as quoted from NHK.

The increased collision rate in the rural areas compared with the urban ones may be or might be the result of the lower wildlife density in the cities and the town and even more pollution right there, which may dilute the full moon’s effects on the wildlife activity.

Also a vehicle collision with the wildlife is almost certainly deadly to the animal and also depending on the size of the animal, it can be very dangerous to the driver and the passengers too. Moose collisions are particularly dangerous because their long legs and heavy bodies tend to mean they hit the windshield directly.

This particular study did not focus on the species of the animal involved in the collision nor did it account for the variations in the illumimation around the study regions and however the researchers hope these findings will help to reduce collision with the wildlife.