To the Honorable Roads and Transport Ministers of Australia,

This petition is delivered with a great sense of urgency in relation to the plight of native animals all over Australia due to the way the poor design of our roads is contributing in a massive way to the extinction crisis for native Aussie animals such as Quolls, Wombats, Koalas, Cassowaries, Tasmanian Devils, Echidnas, Kangaroos and Wallabies as well as many native amphibians, reptiles and birds such as the Cassowary and the Lyre Bird through to our amazing diverse and beautiful parrot species.

Articles such as the one below refer to the mind blowing figure of 10 million animals killed every year by vehicles in Australia!

https://theconversation.com/10-million-animals-are-hit-on-our-roads-each-year-heres-how-you-can-help-them-and-steer-clear-of-them-these-holidays-149733 

Humans are dying too!  Research like that below shows that over 5% of serious casualties in Australia involved an animal, either hitting an animal or swerving to avoid one.  Again a deeply shocking statistic.

Road crashes involving animals in Australia | Request PDF (researchgate.net) 

The design of our national roads today is not fit for purpose to support the many native animals of our beautiful country to go about their travels and cross the lands that they have occupied for millennia.  Since the building of roads and the invention of the automobile, a threat that these creatures cannot adapt to has swept through their natural habitats like rivers of death, they are literally leaving carnage in their wake every night and day on our roads and highways.

It is time for a united front from the Honorable Ministers of all State and Territory and Federal road projects who are responsible for road approval and construction in this country to stand up and say “Enough!” and that from this point forward roads will be designed responsibly and appropriately with the local wildlife in mind.  

A cheap yellow sign with a silhouette of an animal is not meeting community expectations in 2023 as far as the Australian public is concerned.  In 2023 we expect our roads to be designed, fit for purpose, with intelligent crossings under or over the road surface for the local fauna to make their way safely, avoid the traffic and go about their lives in peace without the merciless ongoing death and mayhem that is culminating in certain extinction for many unique species at this time.  

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-07/highway-underpasses-are-being-used-by-wildlife/101302436#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20by%20Southern,more%20than%20once%20a%20week 

As the research by Southern Cross University shows in the link above, there is good research showing that animals use crossings to navigate safely from one side of roads and highways to the other.  Therefore they must be implemented urgently and retrofitted to existing roads, regardless of the cost, as time is running out for our wonderful native fauna.  The cost of not acting is beyond imagination.  

Ministers, we implore you to please do the right thing by all Australians and come together to ensure that our native wildlife is protected urgently!

Build roads safe for animal crossings now.  As the research shows such roads are safer for drivers too.  How many lives, animal and human, will you save by ensuring that, as part of your legacy, all roads in your jurisdiction have animal crossings installed wherever they are needed?

#saferoadsforaussieanimals