Reports

REC Special Report

Special Reports: Impact of COVID-19 on California Traffic Crashes

The Governor's order for "shelter-in-place" in response to the COVID-19 pandemic went into effect on 3/20/2020. These maps show the hotspots for injury and fatal accidents on state highways and certain major roads patrolled by the California Highway Patrol for 3/21-3/30/2019 and the same period in 2020. Use the slider to see the injury accident reduction in 2020 compared to the previous year. You can read the report below: 
REC Hotspots Report 2019

Special Report 2019: Impact of Wildlife-Vehicle Conflict on California Drivers and Animals

Using observations of reported traffic incidents and carcasses the Road Ecology Center has estimated the total annual cost of reported (large) wildlife-vehicle collisions for 2018 in California to be at least $232 million and the cost to society over the last 4 years to be >$1 billion. The cost is calculated using California Highway Patrol (CHP) reports of crashes with wildlife and US Department of Transportation equivalent values for different types of crashes (e.g., property damage vs. major injury).

REC Hotspots Report 2018

Special Report 2018: Impact of Wildlife-Vehicle Conflict on California Drivers and Animals

Using observations of reported traffic incidents and carcasses the Road Ecology Center estimates the total annual cost (2017) of wildlife-vehicle conflict (WVC) in California to be at least $307 million, up 11% from 2016. The cost is calculated using CHP reports of crashes with wildlife and US Department of Transportation equivalent values for different types of crashes (e.g., property damage vs. major injury). The estimated cost could be as high as $600 million if accidents that are claimed to insurance companies (but un-reported to police) were included.

REC Hotspots Report 2017

Special Report 2017: Impact of Wildlife-Vehicle Conflict on California Drivers and Animals

Using observations of reported traffic incidents and carcasses the Road Ecology Center estimates the total annual cost of wildlife-vehicle conflict (WVC) in California to be at least $276 million, up 20% from the year before. This report includes maps of WVC hotspots, discusses impacts to wildlife and people from WVC, and ranks highways in each Caltrans District for financial cost of WVC (spoiler, I-280 in District 4 is the costliest). Projects to reduce WVC can be the most effective of any safety project, with effectiveness often >90%.

REC Hotspots Report 2016

Special Report 2016: Wildlife-Vehicle Conflict Hotspots along California Highways (2009-2015): Carcasses

This report provides an overview of wildlife-vehicle conflict (WVC) hotspots on California highways, based on carcass observations in the California Roadkill Observation System (http://wildlifecrossing.net/california). Analytical details are available from the report author upon request. A subsequent report will focus on WVC hotspots from the point of view of crash and other incident data collected by state safety agencies.
Final Report

Final Report for the Road Effects Zone Project

We developed a detailed conceptual model of the Road Effect Zone based on an extensive literature review. We then developed a simple GIS extension as a pilot of a REZ model in GIS. Finally, we developed a high-resolution REZ model for traffic noise propagation and effects analysis. This project was supported by federal funding through the University Transportation Centers.