Virtual fences are designed to keep native animals away from cars

Kangaroos "are involved in around 90 per cent of animal-related collisions in Australia’s eastern states.
Road safety and animal welfare advocates are perplexed as to why thieves steal virtual fences, but it's a problem that’s occurred across Australia, with instances documented in Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland." >>
https://au.news.yahoo.com/community-shattered-by-theft-of-devices-designed-to-stop-100-accidents-on-notorious-road-051726146.html
#Wildlife #RoadKill #RoadTrauma #VirtualFencing #roads ##motorists biodiversity #habitat #environmentalVandalism #Australia

Life After Cars
The harms of car culture

"Heralded as a world-changing invention, automobiles promised a dream of freedom and independence. Instead, they’ve delivered pollution, noise, expense, sprawling isolated cities, climate catastrophe, and hundreds of thousands of deaths per year."
>>
https://visionzerovancouver.ca/2025/08/01/life-after-cars/

Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile (book)
"Instead of unbounded freedom, the never-ending proliferation of automobiles has delivered a host of costs, among them the demolition of our neighborhoods, towns, and cities to make way for car infrastructure; an epidemic of violent death; countless hours lost in traffic; isolation from our fellow human beings; and the ongoing destruction of the natural world."
>>
https://www.lifeaftercars.com/
#cars #vehicles #EVs #roads #pollution #RoadTrauma #MassMortalities #violence #climate #FossilFuels #sprawl #destruction #harm #biodiversity #book

Remember the 'callous' fatal hit-run driver's home detention in the NT?

"The NT's attorney-general has been accused of failing to declare a conflict of interest over her relation to fatal hit-and-run driver Jake Danby."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-19/nt-attorney-general-related-to-hit-run-driver-jake-danby/105793244

NT DPP considering appeal of 'callous' fatal hit-run driver's home detention
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-17/nt-appeal-call-in-shocking-aboriginal-hit-and-run-death/105780750
#pedestrians #cars #motorists #speeding #RoadTrauma #HitAndRun #culture #law #IndigenousPeoples #dehumanisation #HateCrime #RuleOfLaw #ConflictOfInterest #Australia

NT DPP considering appeal of 'callous' fatal hit-run driver's home detention

"The NT has the nation's highest rate of pedestrian deaths, with the majority of victims being Indigenous people, and data shows one in four drivers do not stop to help...Incidents like this are a stark reminder of the systemic challenges our communities continue to face — ongoing racism, inequity and a justice system that too often fails to hold offenders fully accountable."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-17/nt-appeal-call-in-shocking-aboriginal-hit-and-run-death/105780750
#pedestrians #cars #motorists #RoadTrauma #HitAndRun #culture #law #IndigenousPeoples #dehumanisation #HateCrime

Sprawl is absolutely tragic for kangaroos

"Wildlife Victoria chief executive Lisa Palma said there was a direct correlation between urban development and the level of wildlife road trauma."

"The northern fringe of Melbourne is particularly bad where we have a lot of housing estates getting built into habitat that kangaroos have lived in for many, many years...Developments are going up in areas that are known to be habitats for wildlife."

"...More than 17,000 animals were hit by vehicles last year, and 14,000 animals had already been hit by vehicles this year to date. We've seen wildlife road strikes increase by 288 per cent in the last decade."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-28/kangaroo-crashes-increasing-victoria-racv-report/105697998
#Biodiversity #wildlife #roads #sprawl #RoadTrauma #RoadKill

The 'world's watching' koalas getting under Aussie wheels

They are begging motorists to slow down when driving through known koala habitats, but...

"Since European colonisation, koala habitat in Australia has been devastated, with approximately 29 million hectares (54 per cent) of forests and woodlands destroyed in NSW alone. Even in recent years, deforestation has continued at an alarming pace...Koalas are facing extinction in NSW by 2050."
>>
https://au.news.yahoo.com/drivers-warned-after-heartbreaking-find-next-to-road-at-aussie-tourist-town-230610115.html
#biodiversity #extinction #koalas #marsupials #roads #cars #Roadkill #RoadTrauma #NSW #MidNorthCoast #LoggingImpacts #NSWLogging #wildlife #deforestation

Kids want to be mobile
but
don't own a private car and mostly live in public transport deserts.
Poor bike, footpaths, or road infrastructure increase risks of potentially life-threatening injuries when using mobility devices such as e-scooters.

" One in 10 children hurt while riding e-scooters suffered life-threatening injuries. Children were “massively overrepresented” in cases of e-scooter injuries and deaths, despite e-scooters being mostly ridden by adults."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/04/e-scooter-injury-toll-revealed-in-study-just-tip-of-the-iceberg-in-australia-doctors-warn
#children #MobilityDesign #parenting #TransitDesert #FossilFuel #mobility #RoadTrauma #NSW #MidNorthCoast

Can you live without a car in the mountains? Yes, with planning and a few different bikes
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2025/may/30/can-you-live-without-a-car-in-the-mountains-yes-with-planning-and-a-few-different-bikes
#climate #FossilFuels #pollution #RoadTrauma #harm #MobilityDesign #cycling #carfree

The koala procreation season and car crashes

Speeding combustion engines are one of the major threats to unarmoured koalas. No road is ever wide enough for vehicles in the Bellingen/Gleniffer area. Road signage is regularly knocked down and speeding is the 24/7 norm.

Koalas like to meet up between June and December. This is the time when the marsupials are forced to negotiate a fragmented habitat of roads, settlements and degraded logging sites.

Switch on your 'car brain' and consider others.
>>
https://friendsofthekoala.org/koalas-and-cars/
#cars #roads #motorists #NSW #biodiversity #koalas #RoadTrauma #Bellingen #GlenifferRoad #RosesRoad #BellingenShire #SignageKnockedDown #enforcement #MobilityDesign

Beaches and oceans free of marine life...
Queensland's state sanctioned marine cull of sharks

“Media hysteria in Australia is one of the biggest problems with the whole shark issue. Imagine if it were reported at the same level we do with car fatalities”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/01/top-shark-expert-quits-after-queensland-lnp-expands-cull-program
#biodiversity #Queensland #sharks #cull #risks #cars #beaches #RoadTrauma #science #australia

"A total of 1,300 people have been killed on Australia's roads last year, the highest number since 2012."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-16/queensland-road-toll-nears-100-with-three-deaths-in-two-days/105299532
#cars #roads #MobilityDesign #RoadTrauma

It seems to be tolerated that large machines mow down unarmoured human beings

"In the case of a crash, SUVs and LTVs cause more severe injuries to pedestrians and cyclists than passenger cars. This effect is larger for fatalities than for KSIs, and the fatality effect is particularly large for children... The Injury severity, defined either as ‘fatal versus non-fatal injury’ or as ‘killed or seriously injured (KSI) versus slight injury’. Pedestrians and cyclists are about 44% more likely to be killed when hit by an SUV or light truck (e.g. a van or big ute) compared to a passenger car."
>>
https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2025/04/11/ip-2024-045613

Stop the child murder/ Stop de Kindermoord
"The streets no longer belonged to the people who lived there, but to huge traffic flows... It took the intolerable toll of child traffic deaths – and fierce activism – to turn Amsterdam into the cycling nirvana of today."
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-capital-world-transport-cycling-kindermoord
#cars #roads #SUVs #LTVs #pedestrians #cyclists #children #ChildTrafficDeaths #wildlife #RoadTrauma #MobilityDesign #AI

Image: Bellingen cars conquer the few footpaths

Koalas face death, attacks and mass starvation from monoculture plantations
Cost-effective management techniques for Australian wildlife

"...Displaced animals were sometimes still up in trees that were felled and ended up with broken bones, or were orphaned babies left behind. Others were attacked by cows or dogs."

"A 2023 study of reported wild koala deaths in south-east Queensland found vehicles were responsible for about half (1,431) of all fatalities."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/11/koalas-face-death-attacks-and-starvation-as-blue-gums-chopped-down-in-victoria
#biodiversity #wildlife #koalas #LoggingImpacts #LoggingIndustry #harm #pets #Livestock #roads #vehicles #RoadTrauma #KillingZones #plantations #monoculture #extractivism #governance #Australia #extinction

Koala exclusion fencing mowed down my motorists

The newly built Koala exclusion fence along Hogbin Drive, Coffs Harbour is already destroyed by motorists at various places. No repairs are in sight for the 'fauna exclusion fence'
>>
https://www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Newsroom/Media-Releases/Making-things-safer-for-Coffs-Harbour-koalas-on-the-go
#koalas #wildlife #CoffsHarbour #HogbinDrive #roads #cars #RoadTrauma #NSWKillingKoalas

Biodiversity under the wheels near Repton

"ANGELA Wallace is one of many people upset about the number of koalas being killed on local roads....Little has been done to mitigate these deaths, with another koala recently killed near Repton. “No wonder our iconic koala (dunggirr) is endangered with our roads as ‘killing zones’, deforestation [causing a] loss of habitat, and them trying to survive extreme weather events such as fires and floods.”

"She pointed out that where the koala died, the wildlife fence nearby was thickly overgrown with lantana and a nearby underpass was almost impenetrable due to a mass of lantana."

If an injured, sick or orphaned native animal is found, WIRES can be contacted on 1300 094 737.
>>
https://coffscoast.newsofthearea.com.au/koala-deaths-spark-fresh-call-for-action
#biodiversity #koalas #roads #highway #signage #KillingZones #cars #speeding #RoadDeath #RoadTrauma #deforestation #weeds #Wildlife #Repton #Bonville #fencing #BongilBongil #governance #NSW #NSWKillingKoalas #thylacines

The Sydney surburban sprawl that’s a death zone for koalas
video >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-13/the-sydney-surburban-sprawl-that%E2%80%99s-a-death-zone/105169238
#koalas #Biodiversity #sprawl #roads #trauma #cars #RoadTrauma #Sydney #NSW #extinction #ExtinctionCrisis #SettlerSociety #thylacines

April school holiday season in NSW is also koala breeding season.

Car crash stats from the Northern Rivers:
"From May 2023 to May 2024, 71 koalas were hit by vehicles, of which just 13 were rehabilitated and released back to the wild. Unfortunately, 80% of koalas hit by vehicles last year did not survive the impact. Our statistics show that there has been a 15% increase in the number of koalas admitted to our Northern Rivers Koala Hospital as a result of car strikes than the previous year. In a single week in 2023 six koalas died from vehicle strikes and from June to December 2022, Friends of the Koala, were called to 42 car strikes across the Northern Rivers region. This is devastating."

"Urban environments are stressful and disorienting for koalas. They experience both acute and chronic stress trying to find sufficient food and negotiating roads, domestic dogs, pools and fences."
>>
https://friendsofthekoala.org/koalas-and-cars/
#mobility #koalas #wildlife #roads #cars #speeding #RoadTrauma #pets #dogs #holidays #Bellingen #NSW #biodiversity

Chlamydia detected in Sydney’s only disease-free koala population

"The koalas were tested after they were found in Appin in south-western Sydney in September with injuries suggesting they had both been hit by cars." >>

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/20/chlamydia-detected-in-sydneys-only-disease-free-koala-population
#Koalas #roads #cars #Sydney #AppinRoad #roadtrauma

The human carnage on the roads - "accidents" and road violence

"In Australia, a country with a terrible occurrence and societal acceptance of violent road deaths (would we, for example, be so lackadaisical about the death “toll” were we measuring killings, accidental and otherwise, involving knives or dogs or lawnmowers?), we are culturally imbued with notions of our “rights” rather than our “privileges” when it comes to motor vehicle driving. Something to do with our vast expanses and wide-open roads perhaps."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/18/when-dad-couldnt-drive-any-more-it-was-devastating-but-he-was-just-too-old
#RoadViolence #cars #SUVs #roads #violence #accident #RoadTrauma #RoadTrafficFatalities #roadkill #sprawl #Australia #MobilityDesign

Making life easier for massive vehicles

"Australians are hooked on tax perks while road fatalities and emissions are surging and spending on petrol and insurance increasing."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/17/the-cars-eating-australia-should-we-be-trying-to-reverse-our-attraction-to-suvs-and-utes
#RoadViolence #SUVs #harm #SocietalCosts #governance #australia #WayofLife #RoadTrauma #pedestrians #wildlife #ClimateBreakdown