Abstract
Wildlife-vehicle collisions are only a human safety problem, but road mortality can significantly impact some wildlife
populations. Metal wire mesh fences are one of in most popular preventative means to reduce number of wildlife-vehicle
accidents in Lithuania. The fencing of this highway started in 2006 and continued in 2008 and 2009. The aim of this presentation
is to give the investigation results on the impact of wildlife-vehicle accident prevention installations, e.g. underpasses and fencing
on highway Vilnius-Panevėžys traffic safety in 2002-2009. The number and spatial distribution of wildlife-vehicle accidents on
highway Vilnius – Panevėžys (136 km long) were analyzed. The data on wildlife were official survey numbers from the personal
scientific research, the Ministry of Environment and the Lithuanian Police Traffic Supervision Service. The investigation has
shown a positive effect of fencing and wildlife underpass installation; for example, after the partial installation of fences in 2008
the number of accidents decreased in comparison with the 2002-2006 level. It was found out that wildlife-vehicle accidents were
distributed nonrandomly after fencing and were associated with and close to (within 1 km) of fence ends. We conclude by
recommendations for improving traffic and wildlife safety on roads in Lithuania.