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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday December 28 2016, @01:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the on-Comet-on-Cupid-on-Donner-and-Roadkill dept.

Long live Rudolph:

There's good news for Rudolph and his friends—an app is helping officials reduce the number of reindeer killed in traffic accidents in Finland. Some 300,000 reindeer freely wander the wilds of Lapland in Arctic Finland. An estimated 4,000 are killed every year through road accidents, officials say, and compensation to reindeer herders can be expensive.

[...] A simple, one-button interface allows drivers to tap their smartphone screens to register any reindeer spotted near roads. Using GPS technology, it creates a 1.5-kilometer (1-mile) warning zone that lasts for an hour and warns other app users approaching the area. "If there are reindeer, (drivers) reduce speed," Ylinampa said. "When they have passed the warning place, then they can get back to the normal speed again."


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  • (Score: 2) by jcross on Wednesday December 28 2016, @03:45PM

    by jcross (4009) on Wednesday December 28 2016, @03:45PM (#446728)

    I don't know about reindeer, but I also live in (white-tailed) deer country and I would add to this that the vast majority of deer that get hit are juvenile males that have just been kicked out of the herd. The older females that run the herd are comparatively smart as hell and are absolutely wise to roads, cars, and so on, plus the more subtle signs of human and other hunters. They do learn and the longer they've been around, the more they tend to have "sixth sense" about signs of danger, but the young males are just leaving their protection for the first time, have no clue about hazards like roads, and I believe make up most of the deer that get hit. Because they have no experience, no stimulus is going to clue them in unless maybe it's something they instinctively associate with danger, which would probably also be annoying to humans. On the other hand, any perceptible and consistent signal is enough for the older, wiser deer to keep away, so headlights and engine noise work just fine for them.

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