On the snow-covered winter roads of Finland, driving at nighttime can be an extremely dangerous task. The danger is not just because of the treacherous conditions of the road. A bigger danger is the wild animals, like the Finland reindeers, that might wander onto the road in the dead of night. On these nights, it is nigh impossible to see one crossing the road until it is right in front of the car.
A Huge Number Of Finland Reindeer Lose Their Lives To Auto Accidents
An estimated 4000 Finland reindeers are killed every year because of getting hit by automobiles, as estimated by the country. The damage does not just stop there. An estimated $18Mn of property damage is also caused annually.
In response, the Finnish Association of Reindeer Herders had come up with innovative solutions aiming to reduce costs and fatalities. One of the more ingenious and simple ideas was to paint the Finland Reindeers’ antlers. The pain is reflective which means that when light shines on them, they glow up.
TIL in Finland they use to have about 4,000 reindeer/ car accidents a year so they paint their antlers with reflective paint and this is vaguely terrifying pic.twitter.com/1cQXsgNyyB
— Cullen (@cullend) July 10, 2021
The Association has been doing these to reindeer since 2014. The Finland reindeers did not just get their antlers painted, but also several parts of their bodies. As a result, the Finland reindeers would look like they were wearing bicycle vests. The organization had hopes that this would make the reindeer more visible for cars passing by. Consequently, motorists would have had enough time to reduce their speed and avoid hitting the animal head-on. If it had worked, fatalities would have decreased.
The Association’s chairwoman Anne Ollila said that the spray paint was being tested for its application on fur. This would have increased the efficiency of the paint since they could have been seen from all sides.
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The Finland reindeers having their antlers painted was theoretically an excellent idea. However, in practical application, the idea did not provide the results that were expected. The reindeers scrape off their antlers. And, motorists mistake them for people and assume they would not try crossing the road. But the Association is far from giving up on the idea since it was their most popular one.
