PDR Billboards are Reducing Wildlife Vehicle Collisions

As part of our plan for Mitigation of Wildlife Vehicle Collisions (WVC), PDR has worked to design and install billboards to encourage drivers to slow down in wildlife areas. While “slow down” road signs had been installed in the past, this proved unsuccessful because elephants knocked them down, preventing them from serving their purpose. In conjunction with National Parks, police, and KAZA (Kavango Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area), Dr. Greg and the team designed an impactful billboard featuring a painted dog standing over another that appears to have been hit on the road. With the message of “Stop the Carnage,” and that drivers are in a “Wildlife Conservation Area” and to “Slow Down.”

Joel Vanderbush, Chair of PDR USA, was present with Dr. Greg in 2023 to oversee the photography of the Kazangula Road used in the billboard and again in 2025 with MK to scout locations for the installation of the billboards. Over the course of 2.5 years, from design to getting permits, the billboards

were finally installed in 5 strategic locations as drivers enter Wildlife Conservation Areas from different directions. The most critical locations are along the Kazangula Road from Victoria Falls to Botswana. The billboards can be seen at either end of the road as drivers are entering Zambezi National Park. This paved road goes straight through the park, where 4000-8000 animals are killed annually as a result of WVC. Since these billboards were installed in May, they are already making an impact by reducing the speed of drivers and thus reducing WVC.