Scent barriers installed near Trhová Kamenice to keep wildlife off the road

New scent barriers designed to cut down on collisions between cars and wild animals have been installed along a road near the village of Trhová Kamenice in the Chrudim district, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reports.

These barriers aren't a physical obstacle — instead, they work by giving off a strong odour that keeps animals from wandering too close to the road. According to Michal Bíl, a researcher at the Transport Research Centre, such measures are "far from perfect, but they're among the most effective tools currently available," particularly on stretches of road with poor visibility, where drivers have little time to react to an animal suddenly darting out.

Besides scent barriers, manufacturers working on the issue also offer acoustic and light-based deterrents, though experts say the evidence for how well these work is mixed. Václav Hlaváč, head of the Vysočina branch of the Nature and Landscape Protection Agency of the Czech Republic, previously told ČTK that even when such measures do have an effect, it tends to be short-lived, typically reducing animal deaths by only around 20 to 40 percent.

He explained that animals tend to grow accustomed to constant stimuli fairly quickly, which weakens the effectiveness of these deterrent devices over time.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ekolist.cz