Do 'animal scarers' on cars work?

   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #1  

alchemysa

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Eddie's wild boar thread reminded me of this. What do you guys think of the plastic 'silent whistle' scarers that you stick to the front of your car? I usually have 4 on my car (barely visible just below the number plate.) For the last 7 years I've done a lot of driving on a long stretch of road that is notorious for kangaroo hits. I'm tempting fate saying this but, so far, I haven't hit one.

A bird strike broke off two of the scarers recently. Replacements were $6 a pair which surprised me. I reckon last time they were on special for a couple of dollars a pair.

Do you think they work?
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #2  
Do I think they work? No . . . but I have no proof either way.:D
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #3  
I have seen a more than a few deer hit by vehicles that have those on the bumpers. One pickup hit the deer so hard the air bags deployed:eek:
I have also watched deer grazing under a "watch out for deer" highway sign that did not lift their heads when vehicles with those things on them drove by. If they don't work for deer I am pretty sure they don't work for moose and you really do not want to hit them:eek:
I think they are probably like fishing lures -- they may work on fish occasionally but they ALWAYS work on fishermen:eek:
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #4  
I chased down some studies on this. Studies were generally poorly designed and gave conflicting results. But this is informative:

"The effect of deer whistles on the number of Deer-Vehicle Collisions is dependent upon the ability of deer to physically hear and respond to the sound produced by the devices. As previously mentioned, the advertised range of the sound produced by air-activated deer whistles is typically 16 to 20 kHz at speeds at or above 30 mph. In 1993, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) summarized a number of studies that considered the auditory capabilities of deer (4). The article stated that wildlife biologists at the University of Georgia had found that neither deer nor humans could hear these ultrasonic sounds, and that whistles blown by mouth produced no response from penned deer. The IIHS summary also indicated that University of Wisconsin researchers had found that the whistles produced low-pitch and ultrasonic sounds at 30 to 70 mph, but that no response from deer was observed."

Studies also found that the advertised sound supposedly produced by the whistles was not in reality the frequency they produced and that deer couldn't hear the sound at the advertised frequencies.

Furthermore, the sound levels the devices produced were drowned out by the noise of the vehicles.

So, deer can't hear the things and they ignore whistles humans and deer can hear. Maybe kangaroos can hear the things, but the whistle is likely to be drowned out by the vehicle noise.
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #5  
I figure a Tractorbynet bumper sticker will keep you from hitting any kangaroos. I know it works because I've got a Tractorbynet bumper sticker on my pickup and I've never hit a kangaroo.;)
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #6  
Do they work? ....Do they work?......:eek: Of course they work.....they sell lots of em don't they??? ;)
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #7  
I figure a Tractorbynet bumper sticker will keep you from hitting any kangaroos. I know it works because I've got a Tractorbynet bumper sticker on my pickup and I've never hit a kangaroo.;)

So true. I have a TBN sticker on the back bumper and nothing on the front. Squished bugs all over the front and not one on the back. What more proof do you need :p
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #8  
My own anecdotal evidence. I spent 3 years commuting in Southwest IA. 45 mi each way. Saw 4-6 deer on road dead every day in the fall/ early winter. Lost my whistles on a frozen snow bank. Hit a deer next day. Only deer I ever had a close call with in that time. For less than $10 bucks, I'll never be without them.
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #9  
When I was a kid my grandfather, who lived in eastern Pennsylvania, hit a deer with his car. When it got out of the shop we put a deer whistle on it and he never hit another one.

Did it work? I have no idea, maybe he was just more careful. But it didn't cost much and everyone felt better.
 
   / Do 'animal scarers' on cars work? #10  
I figure a Tractorbynet bumper sticker will keep you from hitting any kangaroos. I know it works because I've got a Tractorbynet bumper sticker on my pickup and I've never hit a kangaroo.;)


Im not sure if it is just TBN bumper stickers.. I did a quick search of motor vehicle accidents around here and there were NO kangaroo hits whats so ever.. LOL

Brian
 
 
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