Hi
Yes roads appear to be a major thorn in the flesh in retaining key habitat corridors in our fast disappearing wildlife reserves. In fact, one such conservation group, the Kenneth Anderson Nature Society, is working with the Karnataka Forest Departments to educate road users on how a forest road should be respected and how to react when an animal is sighted. These activities take place at Bandipur and Nagarahole every week and the aim of these drives are to increase visibility of road kill incidents that occur and severely damage wild stock. In Nagarahole, the group recently painted speed breakers throughout the stretch of the forest to reduce the impact of 'blind spots' created through unkempt roads that lead to vehicle-animal impact.
An interesting thing is that even though these roads pass through forests, where the road is an NH, the Forest Department cannot levy a fine for speeding as this falls under the NHAI blanket and not the FD! Ridiculous. We are working with the FD to arrive at a solution that is used in some game parks in Africa where each car is given a slip at each end of the forest and the time taken to cover the distance is monitored, i.e. averages for speed, distance and time are taken and those found above or below the averages are fined for either stopping or overspeeding. Of course things like punctures and breakdowns are to be counted in, but that's a solution that can be worked with.