A geospatial multi-scale level analysis of the distribution of animal-vehicle collisions on Polish highways and national roads

This article has the aim to investigate the spatial distribution of animal-vehicle collisions (AVCs) in Poland on national roads and motorways. Besides identifying hot spot locations of animal mortality within the country, it also researches on regional scale the relationship between levels of traffic volume or traffic speed and the amount of AVCs. The analysis involves data collected by the Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways with 2014 until 2017 as time range. The geospatial analyses are carried out with QGIS. The Małopolska Province has the highest concentration of AVCs in Poland. Results of the analysis on regional level show that traffic speed and traffic volume are both not strongly correlating to the total animal mortality, meaning that higher levels of the parameters do not lead to higher amounts of AVCs. Accidents occur most frequently on road sections with a traffic volume of an average number of 10,000 to 15,000 vehicles per day. The severe accidents with large sized animals, the Big-Four, are occurring most often at road sections with speed limits between 70 and 90 km/h. This work will be continued, which will investigate the influence of the landscape adjacent to the road on a local scale