An effect of canopy bridges on monkey‐vehicle collision hotspots: Spatial and spatiotemporal analyses

• Published in: American journal of primatology Vol. 85; no. 6; pp. e23492 - n/a
• Main Authors: Cunneyworth, Pamela M. K., Andrášik, Richard, Bíl, Michal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-06-2023
• Subjects: Accidents, Traffic; Animals; Attributes; before–after study design; Bridges; Canopies; Chlorocebus aethiops; Collisions; Colobus; Density; Diani Kenya; Haplorhini; horizontal‐ladder design; Installation; Kernels; Monkeys; Primates; road overpass mitigation; Roads; Roads & highways; Spatial Analysis; Spatio-Temporal Analysis; STKDE; Traffic volume; horizontal-ladder design; STKDE; Diani Kenya; road overpass mitigation; before-after study design
• ISSN: 0275-2565; 1098-2345
• DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23492

Almost one‐quarter of primate species are reported to be involved in vehicle collisions. To mitigate these collisions, canopy bridges are used though their effectiveness is not broadly substantiated. We studied bridge impact on 23 years of vehicle collisions (2000–2022: N = 765) with colobus (Colobus angolensis palliatus), Sykes' (Cercopithecus mitis albogularis), and vervet (Chlorocebus pygerythrus hilgerti) monkeys in Diani, Kenya. Along a 9 km road, collisions did not decrease over the study duration, although bridges increased from 8 to 30. Using the kernel density estimation plus (KDE+) method, collisions appeared highly concentrated at some locations. These concentrations, called hotspots, represent hazardous road segments, though the hotspots for all three species overlapped for only 3% of the road length. We then inspected the collision hotspots over time, using the spatiotemporal extension of the KDE+ method. We compared hotspot presence in the 3 years before and after bridge installation to determine if bridges mitigated these hotspots. Hotspots disappeared for ~60% of bridges postinstallation, suggesting that bridges effectively reduce some collisions. However, of the bridges installed in locations that were not hotspots, 13% had hotspots emerge. Surprisingly, regardless of preinstallation hotspot occurrence, almost one‐fifth of bridges had postinstallation hotspots. To understand the extent to which bridges mitigate collisions, other factors need consideration, including species attributes and crossing behavior, and road features and vehicle volume. We used the novel analytical method because it best suited our data set, given the challenges of determining the bridge impact zone and the low collision frequency.
Colobus collisions (black dots) and canopy bridges (blue lines) are shown along the road (x‐axis) and through time (y‐axis). Colobus‐vehicle collision clusters are shaded gray.
Highlights
Canopy bridges mitigate some monkey‐vehicle collision hotspots.
Species' attributes and road‐crossing behavior, and road features and traffic volume likely affect collision hotspots.
Spatiotemporal kernel density estimation plus is appropriate for before and after collision analyses.