Hedgehogs and other small animals will be better protected on the Island’s roads under new rule changes designed to make it easier for local authorities to put up wildlife warning signs. The current hedgehog sign will be updated following feedback from the sector to make it clearer for drivers. Alongside this, rules around the small wildlife warning signs will be relaxed to make it easier for local authorities to put up such warning signs, helping to better protect hedgehogs and other small animals. Changes made by the Department for Transport will ensure local authorities can place small wild animal warning signs where they are needed most rather than having to apply to the Department on a case-by-case basis. Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, has said:
“These common sense changes will lead to more small animal signs across the country, cutting down on bureaucracy to help protect both drivers and small animals, improving safety on our roads and making sure fewer casualties are checked in to wildlife hospitals like these.”
The small animal warning sign depicts a hedgehog and was first introduced in 2019. As well as cutting the restrictive red tape preventing them being placed, the Government has also refreshed the design by adding white quills to the hedgehog’s back. This will improve clarity and make it more visible from a distance for all road users. The changes will also help protect vital crossing routes for hedgehogs and other small mammals, particularly on rural roads. Hedgehog numbers in particular have dropped by 30-75% in rural areas since the millennium, with traffic a major factor in the decline.
Now all we need to do is teach the driver’s to slow down !!!!!
And obey the signage!!!!!!
There are so many road signs it is ridiculous.
The government promised to reduce the number of unnecessary signs.
Total waste of money. Have this useless council got nothing better to spend our money on.
Majority of drivers do not understand speed signs, so no hope
showing them pictures of animals, they drive too fast to
notice them.
They designed a sign, released it, found it wasn’t working as intended and then added white quills to the hedgehogs back to make it stand out more.? Wow, talk about having money to burn.
Hedgehog decline is not through car accidents, its people using slug pellets and farmers using pesticides and insecticides. Also fields getting built on with no way for a hedgehog to get through all of the new fencing that’s now in their way and there is no field to find food now. Strimmers cutting legs off and setting on fire bonfires where they hibernate is also a major part of the decline.