BUSHKILL, Pa. — A scenic drive through the National Park Service on Route 209 means plenty of trees and wildlife. However, rangers with the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area say in the last month, animals have been killed in 19 crashes.
"Most of it is deer, but we have had four bear hits this year, and that is pretty uncommon. We normally don't see a lot of bears, " said DWGNRA Chief Ranger Eric Linaris.
Officials say this is the highest collision rate since 2019. The common factor was determined to be speed.
"So the speed limit throughout the park is either 35 or 45 miles per hour, and we are catching people doing double that fairly often, but these accidents can happen at 15 miles over the speed limit," explained Linaris.
The Newswatch 16 cameras rolled on one car that sped up and illegally passed an RV.
To crack down on speeding, the park service has increased patrols and installed radar stations to alert drivers of how fast they're going.
"The people that are hitting the wildlife are a lot of the locals because that is what we've got in the park now. People commuting from Milford to Stroudsburg and vice versa," said Lanaris.
Park rangers say speed enforcement is necessary to protect the animals that call these woods home and the people behind the wheel.
"I'd say even more importantly, is to protect people. If you hit a large animal doing 45,50, 60 mph, there is a chance you are going to get hurt. So yes, we want to protect the animals. They are important to us here, but we want to protect people, too," said Lanaris.
Rangers say a speeding ticket could cost you at least $100.