Skip to main content

Japan takes unique action on road safety

In a bid to tackle the growing problem of collisions caused by deer, transport officials in the Japanese island of Hokkaido have taken drastic action. As well as spraying wolf urine near roads and railways they will also be broadcasting the roar of lions to try to keep the deer away. A spokesman for Nexco East, which runs the island's highways, said: 'Even though we have increased the height of fences to 2.5 metres from 1.5 metres, fences sometimes break because of heavy snow, so we need this stop-gap measu
June 26, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In a bid to tackle the growing problem of collisions caused by deer, transport officials in the Japanese island of Hokkaido have taken drastic action. As well as spraying wolf urine near roads and railways they will also be broadcasting the roar of lions to try to keep the deer away.

A spokesman for Nexco East, which runs the island's highways, said: 'Even though we have increased the height of fences to 2.5 metres from 1.5 metres, fences sometimes break because of heavy snow, so we need this stop-gap measure while mending them.

Hokkaido Railway Company earlier this year erected equipment that broadcasts the roar of lions in an effort to keep the timid animals away from its tracks, a spokesman said. He added there were 2,581 incidents involving deer last year, a figure that had doubled in less than a decade.

Related Content

  • February 20, 2019
    US shutdown: transport bore the brunt
    The longest-ever shutdown in US government history may be over – but it has had an impact on transportation infrastructure, says Mary Scott Nabers of Strategic Partnerships The impact of the longest government shutdown in history has spread far beyond government workers and their families. It is difficult to find any business, school, hospital, city, county, college, university or local government organisation that has not suffered as a result of the shutdown. The negative impact on retail establishments
  • March 3, 2020
    CES 2020: ITS does Vegas
    Keen to find out what the future holds, 170,000 people gathered in Las Vegas for CES 2020 to see 20,000 product debuts and 4,400 exhibitors... and ITS International was there too (All images: CES®)
  • January 30, 2012
    Managed motorways, hard shoulder running aids safety, saves time
    The announcement that, in 2012/13, work to extend Managed Motorways to Junctions 5-8 of the M6 near Birmingham in the West Midlands is scheduled to start marks the next step for the UK's hard shoulder running concept, first introduced on the M42 in 2006. The M6 scheme is in fact one of several announced; over the next few years work will start on applying Managed Motorways to various sections of the M1, M25 London Orbital, M60 and M62. According to Paul Unwin, senior project manager with the Highways Agency
  • June 7, 2012
    Transport problems need ''strong action from policymakers”
    Taking advantage of the attendance of the heads of ITS Asia-Pacific, ITS America, Ertico – ITS Europe, and ITS Malaysia as the host nation of the recent 12th ITS Asia-Pacific Forum in Kuala Lumpur in April, ITS International initiated a round table discussion on the big ITS issues confronting the individual regions. For such a diverse collection of advanced and emerging nations spanning the globe, in terms of the advancement of ITS, a common single issue emerges above all others