Elk warning signs don't stop accidents

[93Regina]

The elk warning signs much prized by tourists in Norway have almost no
impact on road accidents, a new study by the Norwegian Public Roads
Authority (NPRA) has discovered.

The signs can be found all over Norway, particularly in the
picturesque counties of Hedmark and Telemark.

But according to a new report from the NPRA, which examined the 4,700
elk and deer killed in car collisions between 2008 and 2013, there is
little evidence that motorists slow down in response to them.

“The signs are supposed to tell road users that they should slow down,
but it turns out that in reality nobody does,” Rolf Sevendal, the
chief engineer at the NPRA in Norway’s Hedmark County, told NRK.

“You drive down a stretch of road where there are elk warning signs
and you don’t see an elk,” he explained. “You drive there ten more
times and you don’t see en elk. You drive twenty times and you still
do not see an elk. Then the effect goes away.”