LED light bar reduces deer-in-the-headlights incidents

By Paula Dittrick, TMNCPC blog master

A new light bar combined with a vehicle’s standard headlights promises to reduce the frequency of deer-vehicle collisions, reports the Wildlife Services (WS) program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA).

The WS program applied for a patent on the new lighting system after its National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) conducted experiments with free-roaming, white-tailed deer. Deer account for most animal-related-vehicle collisions across the United States and Canada.

The LED light bar faces the front of the vehicle, illuminating the vehicle’s front better than standard headlights alone. Researchers concluded the light bar reduced the frequency of deer-freezing behavior with oncoming vehicles.

The journal Ecosphere’s July 27, 2020, issue published results of the study entitled “Frontal vehicle illumination via rear-facing lighting reduces potential for collisions with white-tailed deer.”

The likelihood of dangerous interactions decreased to 10% of vehicle approaches using a rear-facing light bar plus headlights compared with 35% of vehicle approaches using headlights only, the study said.

Travis DeVault, lead author and former NWRC researcher, said, light reflected from a vehicle’s front surface by the LED bar provides “a more reliable looming image to deer, thus encouraging the deer to move.”

DeVault now works as associate director of the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. The light bar patent-pending technology could be sold as an after-market device or could be part of a vehicle’s manufacturing process.

USDA seeks a licensing partner to build and market the technology. The NWRC, which is the research unit of the WS program, is devoted to resolving conflicts between people and wildlife.