This sad statistic is not even the final figure for 2015. Despite far more attention from the police, people still persist in speeding across the forest. Speeding is only one element of the problem; the other is people's seeming inability to observe the animals that are at the side of the road and anticipate the actions that they may take. You'd be forgiven for thinking that drivers only hit ponies that suddenly hurtle across the road from a distance out of the bushes, but it could just as easily be a pony that has just decided to saunter across or has been forced into the road by another pony threatening it. Ponies pay far more attention to the threat posed by a dominant pony than they do the truck approaching at 40 miles an hour.
The speed limit is a maximum not a target and at night people need to slow down especially when dazzled by headlights coming towards them. But people also need to keep a constant look out to the left and right of the road rather than driving with tunnel vision: in other words pay attention! Drive like Bodie and Doyle entering a room looking for a suspect (but not like they drive a car!)
