ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY NOMINEES
WILDLIFE AWARENESS MONITORS Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council is installing wildlife awareness monitors (WAMs) as part of an initiative to help protect and maintain our city’s biodiversity by increasing driver awareness of high wildlife presence on roads in an effort to reduce animal strikes. The purpose of the monitors is to alert drivers to their speed in wildlife zones across Brisbane and to reinforce safe driver behaviour. Wildlife awareness monitors are part of the Infrastructure for Brisbane Program and one of the many ways Council is driving a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable city. The wildlife awareness monitors are permanent message boards, sustainably operated through solar powered installations. The signs are customised based on wildlife behaviours and movements across the seasons to display messages such as breeding season or joey season. The monitors are installed with radar to detect speed as drivers approach. Depending on the motorist’s speed, one of the following two messages is displayed: •A smiling koala face is displayed when the driver is travelling at or below the posted speed limit. •A ‘slow down’ message is displayed if the driver is travelling above the speed limit. To date, Council has installed 29 monitors in areas which have been identified as priority hot spots by Council’s Natural Environment, Water and Sustainability branch. This initiative is part of Council’s commitment to delivering improved safety in local areas, helping residents and visitors get home safety.
24 IPWEAQ EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2021
