Not to sound superstitious, but take care if you’re driving under a full Moon. A recent study suggests that the risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions significantly increases on nights with a full Moon in the sky.
Researchers at Texas A&M University closely looked at reports of nighttime wildlife-vehicle collisions in the state over 112 lunar cycles between January 2011 and January 2020.
“I compared really dark nights without Moon illumination (new Moon) to really dark nights with the full Moon illumination. If you include other lunar phases in the analysis, they appear on the horizon at different times each day, making it more difficult for true apples-to-apples comparisons,” Kentaro Iio, study author and a former student at Texas A&M University, said in a statement.
The researchers discovered a striking 46 percent rise in wildlife-vehicle collisions on full Moon nights compared to nights with a new Moon. Interestingly, this surge in accidents didn’t extend to crashes that didn’t involve animals. This pattern led the team to conclude that the brighter glow of the full Moon is “strongly associated” with an increased risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions
The effect was most apparent in rural areas, where wildlife is more abundant, plus the effect of lunar illumination is not swamped by street lamps and city lights.
Previous studies have found a similar trend between lunar cycles and traffic accidents involving animals in other parts of the world, including Slovenia, Lithuania, and Canada (although, it’s worth noting that some other studies have found no such link).
The question is: if this trend does exist, what accounts for it? You might assume that the added illumination from a full Moon would provide drivers with a better view of the potential risks on the road, thereby lowering the chance of a collision.
The study simply looks at statistics and doesn’t attempt to explain the correlation between car crashes and full Moons, although the researchers do briefly ponder whether it might have something to do with increased animal activity.
“Collectively, the findings allude to a possible idea that some wildlife activity levels are higher on nights with a full Moon than on the darker ones, as perhaps animals can see more of their environment under a full Moon. However, we refrain from diving into the details of this explanation because the authors do not specialize in animal ecology,” the study authors write.
“At the end of the day, this hypothesis should be further investigated by wildlife professionals, and the findings call for a need for collaboration between transportation professionals and animal ecologists,” they conclude.
An opportunity to dig deeper into this phenomenon might present itself later this week. For three days from Thursday, October 17, the night sky will graced by a full Moon that’s known as the “Hunter’s Moon“. It will appear 15 percent brighter and 30 percent bigger than regular full Moons, so one might wonder whether it will have an impact on wildlife-car collisions.
The study is published in the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.
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