Preventing the Deerly Departed on Tollway

Orange County toll road officials are whistling while they drive, but not for amusement.

They are hoping to warn away deer, a dozen of which have been killed by fast-moving traffic since the Eastern toll road opened seven months ago.

So the Transportation Corridor Agencies purchased 100 Deer Alert whistles from a specialty shop at South Coast Plaza. Concerned staffers have taken about 60 whistles so far to install on their work vehicles and personal cars.

“People here have been very upset by the deaths,” said spokeswoman Lisa Telles. “It seems like something that we can do.”

Besides the deer, at least 18 animals, including coyotes, bobcats and a mountain lion, have died on the road.

The whistles are supposed to start working at 30 mph, with air forced through small funnels emitting a high-pitched whine that is audible to deer and other animals. But pets traveling inside the car won’t be driven crazy by the noise.

In other parts of the country where tangling with wildlife on the highways is commonplace, whistles have been in use for at least a decade. How well they work, though, is disputed by some research. Toll road officials admit they have done no independent study on the whistles’ effectiveness.

“It’s just something else to try. We’re raising fences. We’re talking about adding barbed wire,” Telles said. “No one can say if you do ‘X’, we can guarantee you won’t have this problem, but we think this might help.”

Joanna Leonard, an assistant manager at the Brookstone Co. store where the whistles were purchased, said the $15 whistle is usually bought by hunters or people who spend a lot of time in the mountains.

The use of the deer whistles will be reported to toll road board members next month as part of an ongoing status update on efforts to prevent animal deaths on the road. The 17-mile road bisects a 37,000-acre wildlife preserve created to protect rare animals and plants.

Nearly 11,000 cars a day currently use the Eastern toll road and the connecting Foothill toll road.

Elisabeth Brown, president of the environmental group Laguna Greenbelt and a vocal toll road opponent, said she thinks the whistles are a good idea. Brown said she installed whistles on a car she drove for more than a decade.

“The deer hear them,” Brown said. “It’s a question whether or not they make the connection and run away, but it’s a start. It’d be great if they could give them out when people buy transponders,” the devices placed on windshields that automatically debit toll road accounts.

Telles said no plans are under way to provide whistles to regular toll road users.