2026 California Roadkill Hotspots Report -- Roadkill: Fencing and Road Diets

This report marks the 13th year we have been providing a statewide overview of wildlife-vehicle conflict (WVC) in California, including collisions with small and large animals. As usual, in this report we highlight WVC hotspots on California highways based on a combination of >64,278 traffic incidents involving wildlife (primarily mule deer) that were recorded by the CHP between 2015 and 2025 and >234,916 total carcass observations reported to the California Roadkill Observation System (CROS, https://wildlifecrossing.net/california) and other roadkill reporting systems. The primary message of this report is that roadkill is reduced primarily by fencing and reduction in traffic, not wildlife crossings. Further, because it reduces roadkill, fencing is a wildlife connectivity action because roadkilled animals don’t need connectivity.