But one category of vulnerable road user is absent from these discussions. Where is the mention of the wildlife that shares our streets?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wildlife and roads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Road casualty rates are highest for wild animal<\/a>s<\/a>. Doesn\u2019t it seem strange therefore that the County Council has not yet acknowledged these deaths in its Vision Zero policy? Given the impact of car culture on these populations it is a significant oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The death toll of the much-loved hedgehog, for instance, is estimated to be over 100,000 per year. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Local hedgehog conservationist Hugh Warwick says this is \u201cone of the reasons the nation\u2019s favourite animal is sadly slipping away\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well-trodden, ancestral routes of animals like badgers also receive little or no consideration when roads are built. These routes are broken and disrupted, with tragic consequences for wildlife. Clearly, wild animals are also key stakeholders in the planning of safe, active travel<\/a>. This will increasingly be the case as road networks and cities expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does the road-killing of animals fit into Vision Zero? In simple terms, it is another example of how dangerous our roads are, and how we accept this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The flattened, unmoving bodies lining our highways are evidence of the assumption that traffic deaths are inevitable, whether they be the deaths of humans or of animals. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n A focus on wildlife reinforces Vision Zero\u2019s message that mobility will never be equitable until there are zero deaths for all <\/em>road users. The call for \u2018no more ghost bikes\u2019 is also a call for \u2018no more ghost animals\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how might wildlife find a place in our campaign for change? There are several traffic measures which could increase the safety of both humans and animals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prioritising the movement of wildlife alongside cycling and walking can support Vision Zero\u2019s mission. It can lead to a more equitable system of transport which promotes connections with nature. As it turns out, making roads safer for wildlife is good for all of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Natasha Matsaert<\/p>\n Thanks to Cyclox\u2019s campaigning, Oxfordshire County Council has adopted a Vision Zero strategy which aims to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries. But one category of vulnerable road user is absent from these discussions. Where is the mention of the wildlife that shares our streets?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[7,109,35],"class_list":["post-10499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-on-yer-bike","tag-on-yer-bike","tag-roadkill","tag-vision-zero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12072,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499\/revisions\/12072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Wildlife road deaths and Vision Zero<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Traffic measures which help<\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"Vegetated](\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Bridge_\u00a9-michielap-300x200.jpg\")
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