Animals on the highway: New Brunswick campaigns to curb moose-vehicle collisions

FREDERICTON (June 12, 2002) — The province of New Brunswick is hoping a new public awareness campaign will help prevent moose-vehicle collisions.

The government plans to distribute brochures, posters, and an educational video that show how to prevent highway accidents involving moose. The message: “slow down, stay alert, and stay alive.”

The campaign is being coordinated by Public Safety Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney, Transportation Minister Percy Mockler, and Natural Resources Minister Jeannot Volpé.

Between 1995 and 2000, there were 1482 collisions involving moose in New Brunswick, an average of 250 a year. Annually, one to four people are killed in those collisions.

Most accidents happen in June, July, and August, usually between dusk and dawn when driver visibility is limited and when moose are active.

“The message we want to get across is when you see these (moose warning) signs on the road, it means something,” Blaney said. “They aren’t just there for a haphazard reason. They are there because you really need to pay attention, especially in those areas.”

Reid MacPherson, whose daughter Angie died in 1999 when a transport truck hit a moose and threw its carcass onto her car, welcomed the province’s new public awareness campaign.

“What happened today, I am very pleased with the response we got from the government,” he told the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal. “I think it is going to be a help, yes. We are hoping this is going to make people more aware.”

MacPherson became an advocate for public safety after his daughter died, lobbying politicians to raise public awareness of the danger posed by animals on the highway.