The study was conducted by Nathan Weaver, a student at Clemson University in South Carolina (article on the study) wanted to examine the reason behind the declining rate of box turtles (article on the study).
There was a similar study done by Mark Rober of NASA, again with fake turtles on the shoulder of the road, This is what he did:
• He alternatively placed a rubber animal—and a leaf as a control object—on the shoulder of a road: a turtle, a snake, or a spider.
• He watched one thousand cars pass by and annotated the drivers’ reaction.
He found out that 94 percent of drivers did what anyone in their sane mind would do: keep driving on their lane. Remember that the animals were on the road’s shoulder, way outside their driving path. They didn’t pose any danger whatsoever to the drivers’ safety.
On the other hand, six percent went out of the driving lane to run over the animals. Think about that: sixty out of one thousand drivers actually went out of their way to kill a living thing that didn’t represent any danger to their lives—and possibly risking their own lives in the process.
89% of the 6% were SUV drivers.
He did the same experiment with a leaf (0 hits), a tarantula (29%), a snake (27%) of 1,000 drivers.
He did the same experiment with a leaf (0 hits), a tyrantula (29%), a snake (27%).
He did the same experiment on the shoulder of a road leading to a popular gun club. He found that the chances were equal that the turtle would be hit as the other animals , but the chances of a driver swerving out of their way to kill them were nearly double.