Canada/The Chenaux MRC wants to reduce moose collisions

Municipal councillors in the MRC des Chenaux are mobilizing to demand more measures from Transport Québec to make Highway 40 between Trois-Rivières and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade safer and reduce the number of collisions with deer.

Elected officials deplore up to five moose collisions, including one fatality, since the beginning of the year on Highway 40 east of Trois-Rivières.

Guy Veillette, prefect of the MRC des Chenaux and mayor of Saint-Narcisse, believes that more needs to be done in terms of preventive measures.

The installation of signs warning of the possible presence of deer on the roads, two of which were activated last year, is clearly not enough. Resolutions have been sent to the Ministry of Transport, urging them to find another solution.

When you drive elsewhere in Quebec, you often see fences that prevent large wildlife from gaining access to the road. I think the number of accidents justifies much tougher action at such times," says Mr. Veillette.

Installing fences along the highway is not a universal remedy, the ministry has already pointed out. It's useful if you can build wildlife passages under the highway. However, the configuration of the highway and the nature of the soil in the area concerned do not lend themselves to this. The ministry had studied this option in the wake of a coroner's report tabled in 2019.

We may have to turn to innovation or other solutions that may have been tried in the past, but let's try to persevere a little in this direction," says Mr. Veillette.

The Municipality of Champlain is well placed to measure the extent of the scourge, since its firefighters regularly have to intervene on the highway.

What the firefighters tell us is that, every year, they come across this problem. Now, over the past few years, it seems to be intensifying. So, yes, we know there are ways of keeping these animals off the road," says Champlain mayor Guy Simon.

The municipality of Saint-Maurice has not hesitated to support this approach, because just two weeks ago, one of its municipal officers collided with a moose on a nearby road.

This stretch of highway has been identified by the Ministry as one of the most at-risk in Quebec for collisions with deer. A dozen years ago, a pilot experiment was carried out here. Reflective beacons projecting beams of light from car headlights on either side of the highway were installed to keep deer at bay. However, the project was not successful.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/