Road accidents involving wild animals hit record high in Sweden

Radio Sweden
Posted: Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 09:09
0 Comments

2016 has been a record year for accidents involving wildlife on Sweden's road network. (iStock) — 2016 has been a record year for accidents involving wildlife on Sweden’s road network. (iStock)

The number of accidents on Sweden’s roads involving wildlife has reached a record level this year and will pass 50,000 by the end of 2016.

Vehicle collisions with wild animals in 2016 had reached 48,700 last month, which is 300 more than the whole of 2015 and is the highest number of accidents ever recorded involving moose or European elk, deer, wild boar and other wild animals.

It is estimated that there are five accidents every hour on Swedish roads involving a wild animal, most commonly deer (37,594).

Accidents on the roads with such large animals as moose or deer are expensive. The bill for insurance and medical costs was around SEK 3 billion in 2014. On average, five people are killed and 800 injured in collisions with animals every year.

A new report from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU is due out shorty which will reveal the costs of road accidents with wild animals from the period 2003 to 2013.