• Gloomy
    link
    373 months ago

    This is a myth and has been debunked.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/car-splatometer-tests-reveal-huge-decline-number-insects

    The survey of insects hitting car windscreens in rural Denmark used data collected every summer from 1997 to 2017 and found an 80% decline in abundance. It also found a parallel decline in the number of swallows and martins, birds that live on insects.

    The second survey, in the UK county of Kent in 2019, examined splats in a grid placed over car registration plates, known as a “splatometer”. This revealed 50% fewer impacts than in 2004. The research included vintage cars up to 70 years old to see if their less aerodynamic shape meant they killed more bugs, but it found that modern cars actually hit slightly more insects.

    • @lennybird@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      43 months ago

      but it found that modern cars actually hit slightly more insects.

      I assume this is from the larger more flat-faced grills, especially on SUVs and pick-up truck size creep.