Artificial intelligence used to reduce cassowary road deaths in Queensland

Australia Broadcast Center

30-07-2025

A trial using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect cassowaries and then warn drivers has reduced the number of bird deaths on a Far North Queensland road by more than a third.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) used AI for three months to detect the birds at a busy cassowary crossing on the Kennedy Highway at Kuranda, about 30 kilometres north-west of Cairns.
The technology was 97 per cent accurate in identifying the bird, which led to a 31 per cent decrease in fatal crashes, the department said.
TMR Far North District director Darryl Jones said vehicle strikes were the number one cause of death for the endangered southern cassowary.
"It is really important to try and identify how can we reduce that," Mr Jones said.
About two dozen cassowaries were killed in road collisions in Queensland last year.
A sensor called the "Large Animal Activated Roadside Monitoring and Alert System" was used to identify the bird on or near the crossing point, using a camera to constantly monitor the environment.
Once the bird was identified, it sent a signal to a computer which delivered a signal to a sign that could flash various messages to drivers, warning them to slow down.
Mr Jones said drivers dropped their speed by an average of 6.6 kilometres per hour when shown the flashing sign.
"Slowing down by even a few kilometres per hour can substantially improve reaction time, braking distance and outcomes in the event of a crash."
Mr Jones said the technology could also potentially be used for other purposes, including animals or children around school zones.
He said the technology would be removed from site and discussions would continue with research partners to secure funding to "roll it out".
Tully veterinarian Graham Lauridsen welcomed the reduction in bird deaths on the Cassowary Coast, where a cassowary was hit by a car each month on average.
"There was a large adult male hit at South Mission Beach, that was back in May — he had two chicks with him and he's one that became a fatality," Dr Lauridsen said.
"There's two others I became aware of in that period but not necessarily where the [AI] trial took place."
He said most cassowaries were out trying to find a mate and chicks were fully grown, but they would become more active from October.
Dr Lauridsen said he hoped the trial could be expanded by utilising existing mapping of cassowary interactions, crossings, and frequented areas.
"It will be really good to see how this technology, now we know it works, can be rolled out, especially into areas where there's hotspots of cassowary interactions," Dr Lauridsen said.
Kuranda Conservation Community Nursery has welcomed the technology but said there could be another reason contributing to the fewer road deaths.
Speed limits were reduced from 80 kilometres per hour to 60kph on the Kennedy Highway for Cyclone Jasper roadwork repairs.
"It's a great tool and it can be used in certain places, but I'm not sure it's going to stop traffic if it's going as speed," nursery secretary Jax Bergersen said.
"Once the speed limit was reduced to 60 [kph], we haven't had any deaths."
Ms Bergersen said as the "only animal that can transport some of the big fruit", protecting the cassowary was imperative.
Ms Bergersen said she wanted to see the technology trialled at Carmoo, about 250 kilometres south of Kuranda near Mission Beach, where there had been multiple cassowary deaths in an 80 kilometre per hour zone.