The misty-eyed author of "The Asphalt Graveyard" (HCN, 2/7/05: Caught in the Headlights) apparently does not realize that not only have paved highways, numbers of vehicles, and speed increased over the past number of years, but so have the numbers of large animals. Elk have increased almost exponentially in Arizona’s mountains, and deer populations throughout the United States have exploded.

There are personal remedies. I never hit a small bird unless I was going over 60 mph. In the years since I’ve had deer warning signals mounted on my front bumper, the little birds manage to veer off at the last possible second — even when I drive well over that speed.

I share the author’s sorrow. One image that has fastened in my memory for decades is of a beautiful, freshly killed bobcat on the road from Jacob’s Lake to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That road is posted 45 mph! I still ask "Why?"

H. Virginia Thompson
Eagar, Arizona