The misty-eyed author of “The Asphalt Graveyard”
(HCN, 2/7/05: Caught in the Headlights) apparently does not realize
that not only have paved highways, numbers of vehicles, and speed
increased over the past number of years, but so have the numbers of
large animals. Elk have increased almost exponentially in
Arizona’s mountains, and deer populations throughout the
United States have exploded.
There are personal remedies.
I never hit a small bird unless I was going over 60 mph. In the
years since I’ve had deer warning signals mounted on my front
bumper, the little birds manage to veer off at the last possible
second — even when I drive well over that speed.
I
share the author’s sorrow. One image that has fastened in my
memory for decades is of a beautiful, freshly killed bobcat on the
road from Jacob’s Lake to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
That road is posted 45 mph! I still ask “Why?”
H. Virginia Thompson
Eagar, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Remedies for roadkill.
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