Princeton Township to approve deer reflectors

A pilot program is expected to be endorsed.

By: David Campbell
   The Princeton Township Committee is expected to approve a pilot program calling for reflectors on some township roads aimed at addressing deer-car collisions.
   Committeewoman Roslyn Denard said an ordinance will likely be introduced at the committee’s Sept. 13 meeting, but said specifics on where and when the program will begin, and the extent of installation the township is willing to fund in order to implement it quickly, will not be finalized before then.
   Ms. Denard indicated the locations will be in "hot spots" for deer-car collisions identified by the local Deer Management Options Task Force.
   According to Herb Greenberg, chairman of the task force, the Township Committee has informally told him it will install about 2½ miles of reflectors on Rosedale Road and The Great Road by Oct. 1.
   Mr. Greenberg said the township will try out reflector systems from two companies, one on each stretch of road to compare their effectiveness.
   Task force members presented a report Aug. 21 in which they asked the Township Committee to take immediate action to install reflectors on township roadways before the animals mate in October and November, the months when most collisions occur.
   According to the report, there are approximately 8.5 miles of roadway in the township identified by the task force, the Township Traffic Safety Committee and Township Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson as hot spots for deer-car collisions.
   The hot spots are:
• The Great Road-Elm Road;
• Route 206, north of Bayard Lane;
• Mercer Street;
• Route 27;
• Rosedale Road;
• Stuart and Hardy roads; and
• Alexander Road.
   The task force proposed that the township match corporate sponsorship dollar for dollar to pay for the reflectors. At an installation cost of about $8,000 a mile, the township would pay $34,000 of the total $68,000 to put reflectors up on high-collision roadways, according to the task force.
   "Given the body of evidence that reflectors can reduce deer-car accidents as much as 100 percent in many areas, our task force urges Princeton Township to implement this program now," the report said.
   Mr. Greenberg, chief executive officer of Caliper Management Inc. in Princeton Township, said his company will commit $4,000 worth of reflectors "to get the ball rolling" for the Oct. 1 deadline.
   And he said he will try to persuade the Township Committee to include Route 206 in the test program.
   "Personally I would like to see a larger test case," he said.
   The task force said a reflector program could pay for itself after 15 months under even the most conservative accident-reduction estimate of 40 percent, though the average 75-percent reduction estimate would mean payback in less than eight months.
   The task force said the average cost in property damage for a deer-car accident is between $500 and $1,180. Since the beginning of 2000, there were 240 known deer-related accidents in the township’s hot-spot areas. Based on task force estimates, they amounted to between $120,000 and $283,200 in property damage.
   In addition to installation costs, the reflectors would require $500 in yearly maintenance per mile, mostly cleaning or replacing reflectors.
   "I think the Township Committee is ready to proceed with a reflector program, assuming the money can be raised and the issue of maintenance can be resolved," Committeeman William Enslin said this week. "There is a definite commitment by the Township Committee to move on it very quickly."