One of the first things that we, the summer interns, learned at the Wetlands Institute was the 40-mile (64 km) road patrol route because one of the things that we would be doing five times daily is to go on the 40-mile road patrol 
For those who are familiar with Cape May County, our road patrol route includes Stone Harbor, Avalon, Avalon Boulevard, Sea Isle Boulevard, Sea Isle City, back to Avalon Boulevard and finally Stone Harbor Boulevard.
You see, the diamondback terrapins live on salt marshes and the females need to lay their eggs on higher grounds so that when the tide comes in, their eggs would not be inundated. And often times, they end up on roads and the parkway (highways) and they would be crushed by the on-coming traffic. It has been found that the terrapin has a 0% chance of crossing the road by herself without being hit.
So during our road patrols, we make frequent stops whenever we see a dead terrapin on the road. We will check the terrapin carcass for an existing microchip, and then we will check to see if she has eggs in her oviduct. We will then attempt to measure her carapace and/or plastron, if it’s not too badly broken.
Besides processing the dead terrapin, we will also record the time she was spotted, the weather condition and tide and the GPS reading of the location.
If there are still eggs in the terrapin carcass, we will bring her back to the Wetlands Institute, and we will surgically remove the eggs and incubate them artificially (in an incubator). We label all the salvaged eggs so that we will have an idea which eggs belong to which terrapin.
And if we spotted a female terrapin attempting to cross the road, we will help her by taking her across the road, to the direction that she was heading. And each time we help a terrapin cross the road, we record that as a “save”.
The diamondback terrapin nesting season sort of began on June 1st (that was when we found our first roadkill), and to date, we have recorded a total of 454 roadkills. And the bad news is that the nesting season has yet to end. Hence, it is indeed very heart-warming to see individual families and communities put up signages that caution drivers to slow down (or brake) for the turtles. The following two signages are seen on Landis Avenue.
If more people were aware of the plight of the turtles and were willing to do something about it, we would not be losing so many of them.
More pictures taken during road patrols here (some are gory).
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poor turtles! is their population on the decrease?
What a sad reading post. Human beings are the ones responsible for all kinds of nonsense in this world. We occupy the space that nature created for its creatures and kill them indiscriminately. I am glad that some attempts at conservation are being made. Good for you.
Oh God… And this is what we can see and informed about, what about those which went unknown and unreported?? I cannot imagine the figures…
budak, yes, their population is certainly dwindling. But Wetlands Institute is doing whatever they can in their somewhat limited capacity.
Eventually, it would be great if the local residents WANT to save the terrapins, instead of having Wetlands Institute tell them why they should be doing it..
That is so sad about all the roadkill
The signs that people put up are nice though, especially the second one. That would certainly get my attention driving down the road 
I used to lived in NJ (Jersey city) but I never had the chance to go to the Cape May (Stone Harbor) area. We’ve been constantly planning but never really got the chance. Oh well, I heard it’s a nice place especially during spring and summer.
It’s terrible to hear that many roadkill (454 wow!) and its just the start of the season. I really hope those signs work out.
I see turtles I feel sad for them. I love watching them, when i go diving.
Daniel, why do you feel sad for the turtles?
What a contrast! The turtles die in freak accidents when there are many pretty signages to remind drivers to drive slowly
That’s because many people drive too fast to be able to read the signages!
Oh My. That picture of the overrun turtle is going to haunt me.
I thought we were the only ones who did this! I love terrapins. Since I got my license I have always stopped when I saw one crossing the road — and put it on the other side. (Yes, going the same direction it was headed — otherwise it just turns around and crosses again.)
When my kids got old enough, they would aid in the crossing and I just had to pull over. If it was a spot that was really dangerous, we have relocated them to more densely wooded areas.
My daughter (the only one left at home) just transported one across the road last week!
Friends and extended family say we are eccentric (and that we are going to get hit by a car for our troubles). I can now point to this to prove that we aren’t so odd, after all.