How to avoid hitting kangaroos in the Outback | Auto Expert John Cadogan
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
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Don’t forget that on most occasions there is a second roo that makes an appearance just as you relax from avoiding the first one.
No, I hit that bastard out from Ararat 4 years ago. It cost Shannons over $20k.
Thread the needle. Done it twice, both on the motorbike. Not recommended
Yep, sneaky bastards.
@@matthewhyde3045 same here. I had one jumping around in front of me, and it got out of the way, only for its mate to come belting out from the shrubbery, then it turned and started hopping in the same direction as I was going. I was hard on the brake, and when I was about 2" away from touching its tail with my front tyre, it zipped off to the other side, leaving me with a stinky brown mess in my leathers (figuratively, not literally), but no damage to bike or rider. Can't swerve on a bike when you're at maximum braking on a bike, either!
Another night, I was riding with mates, and a roo jumped out behind me. The next bloke in the convoy thought I was about to be a gonner, but fortunately, the roo just missed the back of my bike.
However, my first automotive encounter with a roo (actually, a large wallaby) was only a couple of km from home. The car was fine, but the wallaby didn't live to tell the tale. Instead of leaving it on the road, I turned around, picked it up, hanging onto its tail out the window of the old VC Commodore, and took it home to be "buried" in the dogs' bowls. 😉
This happened to me legit in Canberra on Monaro hwy and Mugga Ln@@daz746
Really depends on when and where you’re driving. I drive on rural roads between farms an average of 1000km a fortnight. Given lowering your speed will help hitting ‘big red’ standing in the middle of the road, but from my experience it’s the ones that like to dart out from the scrub < 1 meter in front of you that cause the damage, even at 60km you’re not saving them. I don’t use bull bars to protect panels, but to protect vital engine components in order to get home, especially when you’re 200km with no phone service in the middle of nowhere. Great discussion, probably more a city vs country debate.
I've actually sat 2 advanced driving courses and both times I had to swerve a stationary figure so I asked the instructor what about if it was a child that just kept running into the direction you swerve to as at speed you only get one chance to pick a direction. I was told make a choice and stick with that choice.
Couldn't agree more. I'd also add that even though a vehicle is "sacrificial" in a crash to save your life and other passengers, it's also not realistic to be replacing cars once a week because every week a handful of roos play peekaboo from the thick scrub giving you under 1/4 of a second to react. I've hit 4 roos on one 20km stretch of road and I'm sure there's many who have had worse experiences
Yep, it's the ones you see on the side of the road for 30+ seconds that do the last second jump, pricks.
@@brentonl1746 Dumb instructor, don't know where you are, but if you can, get to Paul Morris's driving track at Norwell Motorplex, they have amazing courses
Agree mate, if I have to drive like you do, I'd put a big full steel bullbar. I'm going to protect my car.
In a past life, I had to regularly travel through roo active highways in long distance driving. It was pain in the a*se to avoid sudden jump out roos.
I have had three altercations with kangaroos over my driving years. All three times the kangaroo hit me not the other way around. They just jump right into the side of the car.
The way I always look at it is if in doubt just hit the roo it's not going to kill you, but the tree/oncoming car just might
@John H your not wrong but how many death roo impact deaths are their compared to tree/head on collisions a year
@@phoenixgaming20 Most people that hit a tree or cause a head on aren't swerving to avoid an animal. Most tree impacts on country roads are caused by drivers falling asleep. This might be a contributing factor with head on collisions, but just looking at dash cam videos and the number of close calls caused by people doing illegal or crazy overtaking, I think we can be confident that at least 50% are caused by the latter.
@John H See my comments below.
I cannot agree, if you are driving a truck, something that does not handle well or towing an unstable trailer, then you should be looking past the roo as if it does not exist.
If you are looking at the roo and it moves, you may well subconsciously follow it and run off the road. Looking where you want to go at all times is the most important rule of driving.
In modern cars (and even with a trailer if it has stability control on it) just look at the gap where you want to go, hold the steering wheel properly and the car will just go there without any issues.
One of the tricks that has saved me from hitting Roos has been to measure the visibility distance of my headlights and drive at the speed that matches that visibility distance with the cars braking distance… if I am in a visibly Roo dense area, like the Eyre Highway at midnight around Caiguna.
Just have to make sure not to impede other motorists.
I’ve been able to stop, or slow and manoeuvre with plenty of leeway.
The downside is not getting to the destination sooner, but you do get there.
Thanks John giod discussion.
I live in kangaroo country, there were 14 grazing on my front lawn this evening, so having them hop out onto the road is a regular event .
Your suggestions re speed are spot on. At 60 kmh and less I have found adult kangaroos can judge your speed quite well and generally keep out of the way. The main problem being joeys that don't have much road sense. At 80kmh kangaroo's risk judgement is impaired, at 100kmh it is non existent.
In high kangaroo risk areas, where possible and legal, I drive down the centre of road straddling the centre line giving space to manoeuvre left or right. This has saved me several potential collisions. Of course you have to get in your driving lane if other vehicles are in vicinity.
In thirty years living here I haven't hit any roos at all.
I drive in the middle of the road all the time for this exact reason.
I also ride my bikes in the middle as well even in the day time because you never know whats going to happen and I am not just talking animals.
Gives me more time and room to move around and brake heavier, This extra time may just save my life regardless what the Rodgers may think.
A massive outcome difference when on a bike.
An old saying in aviation is "There's nothing more useless than the runway behind you"
As the man behind the wheel, I do and will use every advantage I can use to reduce whatever situation may arise.
I have also found that big arse spot and driving light don't do to much to prevent animal strikes. It generally only means that you will see what your going to hit.
For me the extra light from driving lights actually makes me drive more slowly because you can see a lot of the wildlife out there.
You are not going to hit jumpers way out in front so there's no point in flogging yourself in front of your mates because you have the latest and greatest lights and can see 1.6km down the road.
Its the stuff that jumps out in front of you from the side where you have no chance to miss them because they are out of site in the dark and they just blend into the bush.
Its generally not until they move that you will ever see them in your peripheral vision. Its at this point you will see what your going to hit or in a lot of cases not going to see what your going to hit.
Or not seeing what your not going to hit.
This is fascinating. I’m going to pay more attention to this
@@ScatManAust I agree with most of that. I don't agree with you about not needing good lights. For me, good lights includes enough light out to the side to see them coming at you, because you are right that is where they'll hit you from. You are also right that you don't need to see multiple km down the road, but I think you need to see far enough that you can stop or avoid it before you hit it. To stop them coming at you out of the dark, as you put it. A cheap pair of LED lights, aimed slightly to the sides rather than directly to the front, makes all the difference.
@@Mark_Bridges Mark, yes there's nothing better than having good lights and never disputed that.
But even having lights off to the side don't really do much unless your going very slow so that when you do see them you have a chance to avoid.
I think if your going 80k or more then there's not much chance of avoiding them other than luck.
But then I have hit more roo's while on low beam and that's with going quite slow.
Back in the day "80's" I had 2x Cibie Super Oscars long range spots, 2x Cibie Oscar Plus wide range, 4x 5' Cibie high/low headlights and two 4" aircraft landing lights all 100W jobbies and would spend hours setting them up with everything crossed over pointing up the road as well as way out bush and I still hit them bloody roos.
On most major outback roads and highways nowadays have that much traffic that your on low beam almost as much.
And to make things worse with today's new driving lights you go from awesome light to shit light and eyes take quite a while to come good.
As well as there's plenty of spankers that blind you with 6oooK headlights and spot and driving lights because their lights are that bright, they cant see the oncoming headlight cast over the hills n crests. as well as drivers half asleep with slow reactions.
And with our disgusting highway we call The Great Eastern Highway you would not want to take any real avoidance as your likely to do more damage to your car than hitting kangaroos.
Just this weekend I wrote off a tyre and alloy rim with a monster pothole while on low beam.
Its an absolute disgrace .
@@Mark_Bridges Precisely. Also one needs to be careful after a vehicle has gone past in the opposite direction.
It's interesting how, in Australia, you have kangaroos and call the external panel protectors "bull bars", whereas in Estonia, there are no kangaroos but we call the external panel protectors "kangaroo bars".
We occasionally call them roo bars also. Bull bar just sounds tougher i guess.
Y'all need to swap bars 😜
😆
We'll gladly send some over if you want, no shortage of the things despite what some local animals rights politicians are blabbering on about
Yes, the term bullbar is "aspirational". The only time a bullbar will protect a normal passenger vehicle / SUV from a bull would be if the impact is less than about 20 km/hr, at best. I know because I've done the simulations.
As a motorcyclist of 45 or more years, avoiding target fixation has kept me alive. "Look where you want to go, not where you think you're going to end up" is the key. Motorcycles do not have the braking capabilities of cars because we only have two small contact patches of rubber on the road.
Avoiding obstructions is an instinctive reaction. You don't actually 'think' about it, your body just does it. I've avoided roaming animals a few times, call it luck if you like, but driving courses should definately include this stuff.
We used to hit them all the time on the mine haulroad (just out of Woomera). They would come up to eat the greenery growing along all the leaks along the waterpipe between pit and crusher. 150 tonne dumptruck turned roos into 30 metre long pizzas real quick.
Again great job John. As an ex-Army vet of 20+ years I did a lot interstate travel up and down Qld, NSW, Vic and SA on bikes and in cars and I would like to add some personal insights. I absolutely agree with performance issues regarding bullbars. On a small cars, the increase in the frontal weight also creates some bad steering, braking, handling behavior. I've also observed that the marsupials are often blinded by high beam lights. While low beam allows them see/hear the threat (human in car) and jump away from it. So I would suggest, where it is safe to do so, use high beam sparingly. Years ago, Greyhound documented the use of ultrasonic emitters (ShooRoo) and reported 800k+ on buses fitted without interaction with kangas. I had one fitted to a Nissan Maxima (without bullbar) for many long trips without any highspeed impacts. Roos seem to move in odd numbers i.e. 3 or 5. So if one crosses in front of you there may be two more in line with your car! Great Vlog mate Cheers
What you say about the lights is about right. The roos loose their night vision, so then they travel into the light to see where they are going.
Kangaroos travel in mobs, many more than 5. Wallabies in small numbers, often solitary. Of course in the dark, I don't expect most people to be able to make a positive identification, so yes, just assume they are roos.
Yes the roos are blinded by high beam and yes that can make them jump in front of you. However, I'm not sure about the 'use high beam sparingly' recommendation because then you miss seeing them until it is too late. I'd rather see them with my long range spotties so I can 'get ready' to react to whatever they do. The only time one did serious damage to my vehicle I was using low beam because a car just passed going the other way, it came from the right behind the other car so I had no chance to see it before the hit. Also, and I know this might sound a little strange, I find the roos are less jumpy than I remember from years ago. I wonder if natural selection is resulting in more placid, less jumpy roos? Or maybe this is just wishful thinking.
"if you're trained to look away from the threat and at the solution..." --> this is what motorcycle riding teaches you very well. If you look down at the turn as you're going through it, you'll likely end up off the road. Imperative to "look through" the turn.
Swerving is deadly. Have the bar, break sensibly and drive straight through the kangaroo. From personal experience that is the best way to unfortunately hit animals.
Too true. Many have come unstuck or worse when emergency swerving - its a split second decision - straight or swerve, most times straight is the safest option with animals on the road.
something that should be more common is a Diff protector had a roo go under and it smacked the diff pinion busting the seal never had it happen before so i did think to look when i got home i could smell hot oil looked under to see where it was coming from and my diff was cover in oil luckily i was only 8km from home when i hit the prick had it be further i would have burnt out my diff.
@@phalanx3803 Not related to roos, but diffs... Back about 1974 Dad had just bought his new Ford Fairlane, went in for its first dealer service. When they checked the diff oil they drained it - but didnt replace the diff oil, so it was running on air. That was ok for a day around town but next day we set off on holidays, about 230klm down Spencer Gulf - and far away from Adelaide - and this pungent/oily/hot smell had been following us for the last 150klm or so the diff gave out.
In the middle of nowhere (back then it was very isolated) and with no help, but we had bananas! peeled off the skin and shoved banana skins, had a small cup of cooking oil and whatever was semi lubricant from the esky and drove back at 20kph and many stops till we got home. Bananas saved the day!
I worked on a project out west and the company I was working for sent us to a defensive driving course run by an ex Australian military driver trainer. The course showed is how to avoid hitting the Kangaroos on dirt roads and sealed rods in a 4x4 ute. I for one can say the training saved myself on two occasions from hitting the Kangaroos.
The question is how do you avoid getting hit by them? A roo came out of the scrub and before you could blink slammed into the side of my car just behind the back door tearing off the plastic wheel flair thingys. Another time a big bastard just missed the car and got cleaned up by the camper trailer i was towing. They really should look before they leap.
@@python27au me too!
We love football, meat pies and hitting Kangaroos in our Holden Cars.
Not anymore, with the price they fetch, I hop!
Professionally trained driver here that spends 75% of my working week on the road, in all conditions and often driving fast (I'll leave what I do up to your imagination 😀). Your words about getting training and hazard mitigation are supremely wise.
I'll tell a quick yarn. One night I found myself driving home heading down from the Gembrook/Cockatoo area toward the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Really prime time for deer to be out and about in an area rife with them. On a stretch of road going at about 70km/h a full grown adult Sambar stag (so 130-140ish kg of animal) walked straight out in front of me from the left side of the road. My experience and training took over and I navigated the hazard successfully. I used a short, sharp and hard application of the brakes to dump some speed, then got off the brakes and manoeuvred onto the left shoulder of the road, passing narrowly behind the offending animal as it continued across the road.
Had I just panicked and slammed on the brakes I would have hit it, pancaked the front end of the car and likely got injured in the mix. It was afterall only a Honda HRV I was driving.
On the other side of the coin I have been in a similar instance, while driving a work car mind you, where the offending animal was a wombat. This time thought I was on a road with no shoulder and forest running up to the road edge. Again my experience took over, and I identified straight away that I had nowhere to go and would need to just floor the brakes and take the hit. Because a wombat is a lot softer than a tree.
The take away from it is my training/experience allowed me to assess and navigate each situation. Most drivers hit their brakes and swerve which is just a recipe for losing control immediately.
Damn Critters !!!
Why are you driving "fast" on public roads?
@@chriswillmott462 I bet you're fun at parties...
@@CWelton6 I leave my fast driving for the track genius
@@chriswillmott462
Sometimes fast drivers on the road need to be spoken to about their remiss attitude to driving...
and therefore a faster driver (well trained) using light and aural signals needs to go faster in order to not have to follow them until Darwin or next Tuesday (whichever comes first).
This leads to a conversation which normally ends in the first bad driver receiving a speed certificate from the better trained and legal) "speeder" that caught him.
Said speed certificate must be paid for in proportion to acheived speed.
Occasionally said speed is so high that a holiday is arranged for the speeder "to cool down" for some time..commonly referred to as "a visit to the cooler".
This holiday is free, and is usually followed by a period in whiich, though the speeder is free...he is not allowed to drive any motor vehicle on a road...this period also being varied with the speed and other circumstances surrounding the awarding of the original speed certificate.
Great points. But seriously, “break and swerve and recover” is skill. That advice should come with the MASSIVE caveat: don’t swerve unless YO CAN control that vehicle. REALLY CAN not think you can.
the other obvious danger should also be included in the warning - everywhere other than the lanes on the road should be considered dangerous, especially on country roads
Thanks John. Years ago I needed to get my Holden Nova (Holden is an obsolete old brand, for those confused readers) that was really a rebadged Corolla, from Perth to Brisbane asap. Flew to Perth arriving early afternoon, jumped in the car and made it to Kalgoorlie for the night. Up early, and next day to Ceduna. Up early again for what would be the longest day of the trip as I had a brother living in Cobar at the time, and off I go. Arrived into Broken Hill about 4pm and Cobar is a further 350km. God was probably trying to tell me something when I came out of the local Maccas and discovered my keys locked in the car. It added about an hours delay and off I go. Up to this point in the trip of about 3000km, have not seen one single sign of animal life on the roads. Just out of Broken Hill it quickly became like crossing the Serengeti! Hundreds and possibly thousands of various types of feral animals, kangaroos, emus etc. wandering all over he road. As night fell, my pace slowed dramatically to nothing more than 60kph and it took much longer to get to Cobar than expected. I finally enter the town limits and the signs indicating 60kph speed limits and for the first time in hours relaxed and took a few deep breaths, realising how tense I was. I hadn’t hit anything. When all of a sudden like a bolt of suicidal lightning, a wallaby or kangaroo shot directly from my left like a canon into the front left wheel well of the Nova. Scared the living daylights out of me. Needless to say, said animal was instant roadkill and I was very fortunate to get away with no damage whatsoever. Finished the trip to Brisbane the next day, and once again didn’t see a single animal on the roads. That stretch between Broken Hill and Cobar was unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it before or since.
Your story telling is second, only to the great Codogan himself. Cheers.
+1 on the great story telling....
obviously you are an old-timer that can actually write well....
I road a motorbike for years at night in kangaroo country and never hit one. You just have to be aware and drive defensively. Most people just drive flat out, because they’re idiots.
So do I. And unless you're wobbling down the road at 25 kph, I'd argue you simply haven't had the misfortune to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
You're better than VR46, no? 😋
A mate of mine ran through a mob of roo's and cartwheeled his KTM at around 90kph... He was airlifted to the Alfred with non life threatening injuries.
@@jasoncee666 don’t think Rossi’s skill is country road riding.
@@Mambojambo157 look at the big brain on Brett (you) 🤣
245 ,270 , 308 , 30 30 , 30-06 , 7mm , 6.5 cred 🤔 all come to mind to fix some of the problem
I don’t think driving around with your pathetic penis extension outside your pants is a good idea. Although it would be funny when the airbag goes off. Give the paramedics a hell of a giggle.
Another tip that's worked for me - try to dip your headlights as soon as you can should you spot one up ahead. High beam is valuable in the bush but experience has taught me that the sooner you dip your lights the better the chance the roo will nick off onto the bush. Maybe it simply stops them from getting disoriented. Obviously this only works for the ones you see. The ones that come screaming from left or right into the side of the car are the toughest to dodge. For this reason, I'd suggest always driving in the middle of the road whilst ever it's safe to do so. Having plenty of room to spot em firstly, and manoeuvre if needed is the key.
This is correct and whats missing in this video.
I am pleased to say the John's advice is very good and covered most of the key points regarding avoiding hitting a macropod (kangaroo family of animals).
One key point that John missed regarding avoidance is what to do when you see a kangaroo or wallaby beside the road and you are driving with your headlights on. Assume they are going to jump in front of you! You might think that is a dumb thing for an animal to do, but you’re not thinking like a macropod. One minute your tucking into the best fodder around, the next minute you have a big loud predator approaching you at great speed, so you want to get out of there post haste. First thing you do is bounce off into the bush, but then, crap I can't see because some basted knocked out my night vision. Ok, before I knock myself senseless on a tree I have better head for where I can see, you know where the light is. Of course this means on the road right in front of you.
The other really important thing, if you actually hit one of these guys, do the right thing. Check that everyone in your vehicle is ok, then if it is safe, check what happened to the roo. If it bounced off in the bush, that doesn't mean it is ok. Most of the time if you have hit an animal with a car you have likely broken bones, caused internal bleeding and probably caused concussion. Despite all this, many will still hop away.
Now this is important. There is a 50% chance that you have actually hit more than two animals. Female macropods almost always have two joeys at a time. There can be two in the pouch or one in the pouch and another one at foot. Even if the mother bounced off into the bush, one of the joeys could have been ejected onto the road or beside the road. If this has happened, and the joey is alive pick it up and keep it warm and away from bright light.
Even if you can’t see what happened to the roo, tie a rope or cloth to a tree closest to the point where you think they went. Then take a picture of the location with your phone. Then call the local wildlife rescue group and tell them what happened. Most will respond 24/7, failing that, call the RSPCA. If you don’t have mobile coverage, that rope or cloth you tied to the tree and the photo of the location, could save rescuers hours looking in the wrong location. The animal you hit needs to be found and in all likelihood put out of its misery.
If any macropods have died, then remove them from the road or directly on the side of the road. You need to check what sex they are. If they are female, then ideally you need to check the pouch to see if there are young in there that have survived. If you can’t do this, then the volunteer rescuers will come out and do it. Please make an attempt to do this as you will save a volunteer rescuer at least a couple of hours travel time. Obviously the wildlife rescuers need to know about it and as soon as possible.
Excellent response!
I've had big reds do ridiculous things in full daylight. Nice theory about headlights and loss of night vision but Occam's Razor slices to the fact that they're just really stupid. Good points about joeys etc.
@@hippiesparx How much experience have you actually had with kangaroos? Based on your comments, it would appear very little. Seeing the odd kangaroo at a distance is hardly going to give you an in depth understanding of their behaviour. Let alone an understanding of their unique biology that drives many of their behaviours.
be careful checking a roo if they are dead,remote australia is no rspca, they actually will play dead an get you with their tail,bucks will use their hook claw on their feet so only if you can 100% see they are dead approach them to remove from road, wild pigs and eagles will do this job anyway, when in remote location check yourself the car/trailer for damage , this is designates getting to next location safely.dont go running of into the bush looking, youll fall over get hurt or bitten stay by the bloody car. many people that have perished only being minutes away from their cars.
I’ve hit roos on country roads. Its important to stop, locate the disabled animal and dispatch it humanly and ensure it is dragged off the road. Checking for joey’s is also recommended.
In contry WA down south we tend to think of roobars as something to protect the radiator in a roo strike and allow you to hopefully get home and not be marooned in the middle of nowhere with a dead car.
Excellent advice John.. Preparing for emergencies and pre-planning for any 'crash or avoid' or mitigation possibility, should be drummed into every 'would be driver'.
I had one put it's head through my drivers window and it absolutely scared the piss out of me. I don't drive early morning or evening/night in the outback/bush and have been fortunate not to hit anything alive in nearly 20 years now.
ED doctor here working in a rural hospital. Couple of nights ago, two drivers in two cars brought to the ED after both hitting a very large pig at 100km/hr. Dark, raining, single carriageway dodgy road surface. First car driving along the highway was a single cab Ute (newer version of a Holden ss ute,) patient launched into roof and slammed back into seat but vehicle stayed on all 4 tires and came to a stop. Battered and sore but OK. Second car comes round the highway couple year old rav4 with a small 'nudge bar,' thing on the front, hit the mound of pig on the road, whole car got launched upwards and sideways, rolled over a couple of times before sliding head first into a tree. No airbags deployed. Luckily, driver escaped serious injury. Both drivers nice sensible people doing nothing wrong, in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this and many other instances that I've attended, I can't help but think that rather than being protective, that bull bar / nudge bar just shunted the forces downwards and launched the car upwards, induced a roll and possibly interfered with airbag deployment. Both cars are written off. I just can't see the point of removing your crumple zone effectiveness in a serious accident to protect some paint in a minor collision.
A nudge bar is of no significant benifit, they are for mounting lights and bumping shopping trollies.
the RAV driver would have been far better off with a properly designed and ADR compliant front bar
The other thing to consider is that pig is a very large dense piece of meat, it is very common for mature pigs to be over 250Kg or in some rare cases as much as a1 tonne.
Hitting a pig at speed is never going to come out well.
Pigs are also a lot softer than cars, so it does not surprise me that the airbags did not deploy
@@soundman6645 A 1000 kg pig? Holy %$#@
@sound man. Thanks for the reply mate, fair point about the airbag not deploying on impacting the pig it was more the impact into the tree at the end of the rolls and slide that had me. Looking at the photos of the crashes (and I'm no expert here,) it just seemed like the Ute had crumpled its front end as apposed to the rav, which had minimal inward deflection of its bonnet (hood). I do have pretty severe observer bias here in that I only see the accidents that end up in ED. I am genuinely interested in the crash mechanics of bull bars and front end modifications on cars. It also seems a little odd that manufacturers are being held to have better front end design to their cars with softer bumpers with better pedestrian impact ratings only for it to be legal to completely negate this with aftermarket additions. Open to all suggestions and info. Thanks.
@@JJ-wi2uw yeh there is no biological limit to the size of a pig, if they live long enough and eat enough they just keep getting bigger.
there are some massive feral pigs out there
@@soundman6645 Some of them wear lipstick. LOL
There is a Dingo Creek just east of Dingo. It joins onto the Springton Creek and heads north to the north of Dingo.
Excellent advice John! This is near the top of my list of concerns driving on rural roads - and I love rural driving! Another 'trick' I do if I have to drive during peak rodent hours is to find a truck and follow it, so it acts as my 'bullbar' but I'm thinking it may also give me some fuel economy 😂
Not sure that is foolproof, as the one kangaroo, I hit came between the truck in front and my car. Unfortunately I had no time to brake, so hit it at 100km/h, which did a far bit of front end damage, and pushed the radiator back into the engine bay.
I had a workmate who swerved to miss a dog. He missed the dog, but hit a parked car. The dog ran off. My workmate ended up being liable for the damage to both vehicles. The police told him, if he just hit the dog, the dog owner would have been liable for all the damage.
Obviously, if a person suddenly appears in front of your car, you do everything you can to avoid hitting them, but, if it's an animal, you may make things a lot worse by swerving.
The Shoo Roo works wonders I've found over many years.
yes it does.
As an observation on bullbars, I've hit kangaroos twice, once head on and another time glancing, both resulting in panel damage. On neither occasion did the car have a bullbar. I've done a lot more miles in bullbar equipped cars and not once hit a kangaroo in one. So the case for having a bullbar is probably found in that application of Murphy's law.
My old boss who used to engineer a V8SC outfit was driving back from Winton one night in a Commodore ute when they hit a kangaroo dead-centre, at 100km/h. It smashed through the windscreen, exploded as it passed through the cabin, out the rear window and straight out the back of the tray onto the road.
He told me they were so shocked at the time because there was so much blood everywhere they couldn't tell if they'd been injured. The SS ute apparently looked like it'd been hit with a tank round.
@@ScottMurrayBestFamilyCars I once ran over an already dead big roo on the road . Unfortunately the low slung spare wheel holders on the B trailer haybaled the carcass and spat it out the back all over a white Ranger with an impatient tradie mong travelling right up my backside 🤣
Good advice all round. Driver skills to avoid or minimise impact best protection. As long time truck driver, I’ve seen many crashes where the bull bar hardly had a scratch after the car/Ute had slid or rolled while avoiding skippy. And I’ve seen first hand how ineffective a ‘good quality’ bull bar is when it hits an actual bull, even when the bull asked away.
Thanks John, very well put.
Another superb post John. And this is an issue that really should be discussed more.
I would like to mention that if your put in that position of driving at twilight times when roos are most active, I have found even a cheap light bar these days has good side-scatter, its the one most important tool you really need.
The big deal is that even driving carefully if you see one there will usually be 2 or 3 more about to come out behind the one you just saw.
I you have good side scatter light from a light bar then you can much more clearly see the partners in crime about to descend behind the one you initially saw.
So whenever I am able, I always have that extra light turned on, I think there is a case that may well be made that the more sideways light tends to pull up the others from jumping out on the road.
Lights are ideal for spotting them… but they do not stop them from jumping in front of you…
As far as road sense goes… they are the dumbest animal alive… they tend to jump in front of you NOT away..no amount of light forwards sidewards or backwards will change that
When you see a kangaroo or wallaby beside the road and you are driving with your headlights on. Assume they are going to jump in front of you!
You might think that is a dumb thing for an animal to do, but you’re not thinking like a macropod (kangaroo). One minute your tucking into the best fodder around, the next minute you have a big loud predator approaching you at great speed, so you want to get out of there post haste. First thing you do is bounce off into the bush, but then, crap I can't see because some basted knocked out my night vision. Ok, before I knock myself senseless on a tree I have better head for where I can see, you know where the light is. Of course this means on the road right in front of you.
Excellent advice as always John nice work
Fantasticly beneficial advice!
Great advice
Explained very well!
The "website; card" bit was particularly nicely done today. You earned my "like" and I haven't even got past the intro yet. Cheers!
Yeah My advice exactly ,don’t drive at dawn, dusk or at night.
That should prevent 95% of Roo-strike
Outback Trucker: Ah! F**king roos!
Tell the boss to run his business in a more realistic time frame.
@@alanhilder1883 exactly,
I don't know about other parts of the country but I have noticed the faster you travel the more you cause roos to belt through the bush as fast as they can go next to the road or on an intersecting course. These kamikazis are virtually undavoidable and will sometimes crash into the side of the vehicle you are driving. It happend a bit when I was driving work utes and trucks around and hadn't seen how much slowing down works.
If I have to travel at risky times or through roo infested areas, travelling below 90kmh seems to markedy reduce that suicidal behaviour. The ones left sitting on the road or side of the road are much easier to avoid if they do make a hop or two into your path because they are going slow and so are you. An excellent topic.
Next video. Trying not to get bogged at Dingo Piss Creek!! Pulled two utes out today.
My daily commute requires me in roo country for 75km each way, dawn and dusk.It really is a matter of when, not if. I am on my 2nd set of front panels in my ute.
I agree on being proficient in the evasive maneuver is important, but my experience is you just can't see all of them in time, no matter how slow you go. My car is beat to piss as where I am, they will even jump straight into the side of my car at 70km/h.
hi John , i write off cars for a living , if you have a bull bar and hit a roo, 90 % of the time , the bull bar is what damages the front rails( kinks them ), and it will usually right the car off , if you just have the car it self , no bull bar , only 50 % chance of total loss , the car is better at absorbing the roo than a bull bar , most people try to doge the roo and end up running off the road and either hitting a tree or doing more damage than actually hitting the roo , but you are correct, a good car with abs , you should be able to slam the brakes and steer around the obstacle , but it requires some training , of course the 4x4's don't want to know their assumptions don't correlate with facts,,,,
I had an idea years ago where the front chassis/bull bar was mounted by shocks, so when it had an impact, it basically bounced back. That would negate/lessen a lot of repairs, which manufacturers would not like though. Even if it was a good idea, good luck getting that through.
4 of the 5 roos I have had collisions with in the last 10 years hit the side, and one was out of the headlight field so I didn't see it until until I stopped after the collision (LHR of the car, dead roo)
The only one that hit the front was at 3.00pm and hopped straight up from the long grass in the culvert beside the 100 kmh limit road I was on. No time to even brake before impact.
On the subject of bars, they generally allow the vehicle to continue, rather than needing to be towed.
Very important in a rural/remote situation.
hey John, i must admit having a chuckle approaching “Dingo” found the creek, imagine my dismay when it was merely dingo creek! bloody censorship in play id hazard to guess. the town has a pub, a “dingo” post office and “dingo library” i guess the dingos are pretty well educated out there. there’s also a monument to the dingo on main street. took a pic with my beagle, will find pics and forward. unusually, on my way to middle mount (a purpose built huge mining town with a dual cab 4by ute or landcruiser in every home) i saw a wild dingo just going for a wee walk along the highway. i’ve seen them in national parks but first time i’ve seen one near farm land. cheers mate, love ur work!
You nailed it, spoken like a champion 🏆
all points taken thankyou.
This is good advice John that crosses over to deer here in North America. I hit one 4 years ago, and nothing would have protected the front of my van, as it tore off the front quarter panels.
Excellent vid👍🙏
good advice John. A few of my friends have had roos jump into the side of their vehicle, one friend had the experience of having two roos jump into the side of his BMW. He stopped to check the damage and got knocked down by a third roo. He decided to spend the night in the car parked on the side of the road and went to sleep. In drought conditions roos tend to move more and spend a lot of time in the long paddock.
I’ve hit 5 of them in the past 10 years, 4 of them in the Southern Tablelands. The last two in the space of a month 6 kms from my home. Both times I was going slow. One came at right angles to me and the other was stretched out flat on the road.
I’ve seem plenty and the worst thing is to beep at them or drive around them. They bounce away and suddenly swerves back towards you.
Their are idiots you don’t hit them they hit you.
Bull bars are a waste, unless the really expensive ones, the just fold back and cause more damage.
There’s no good way to avoid them just be so aware of them in the morning and evening.
But them I’ve had to miss a lot at 2 o’clock in the morning as well.
A few years ago I was driving on a quiet country road south of Canberra at about 11:00pm . Literally hundreds of roos everywhere. I was down to 10kph with headlights on main beam.
I'd dodged about 10 in the last 5 km when a large buck sat in the road in front of me. So I stopped. He didn't move for about a minute. He looked at me and I looked at him.
Then he decided he'd had enough and jumped right onto the bonnet of the car, leaving a great dent before bouncing off into the bush.
I think he'd been blinded by my lights and jumped over them to get away without seeing what was behind them.
Next time I'll dip the lights and turn on the interior light so he could see me.
Not so much blinded by your lights, but that wouldn't have helped. You had entered HIS territory and just spooked his ladies. He was not happy with you. Now since you were smart enough not to get out and confront him, he just had to let you know who was boss.
interesting,, where is this place ?
I had some similar situations crossing the Nullabor. Just past Eucla it started to rain after a long dry spell and the kangaroos were all out licking the water off the road surface. I was driving an HQ panel van towing my rally car and had to eventually stop when one large roo would not move even after blasting him with the air-horns at 2 metres. I had to get out of the van and chase it away before I could continue. At one of the service stations I spoke one truck driver who said they had stopped counting after hitting 79 'roos.
On another trip, this time in my highly modified TA22 Celica, I hit a 'roo just short of the W.A. / S.A. border. It was a true kamikaze, I saw it hopping across the road in the distance, so hit the brakes and swerved so that I would pass behind the 'roo on it current trajectory. So it stopped, so I swerved back onto my side of the road, so it started moving again. I had almost stopped when it hopped onto the bonnet of the car. Luckily the only damage was a dent in the bonnet.
After riding a motorcycle 45,000 km's in the last 2 years to various places in Australia, I have had more than my share of close contacts with lunatic roos ( I have been driving cars for 42 years and no incidents ) , the lessons learnt are , avoid riding dusk or dawn. If riding , ride between 60 to 80 kph for the first 2 hours after dawn and before dusk . Ride or drive to the road verges. If the vegetation comes to the road ( Burke and Wills highway ) , slow down , do not drive faster or ride over the capacity of your brakes and ability. On a motorcycle you can smell the road kill and every time there are limited verges the smell increases. Something you would never know in a air conditioned car.
Dingo has a creek, but it is called Dingo Creek.
However, the town does have public toilets.
Takes care of that problem.
About 12 months ago I was driving at night near an outer suburb national park and following another vehicle with the idea that he/she would be the "mine sweeper" for roos. Rounding a bend a roo alongside the road was urged into action by the car in front and hopped out in front of me. It wasn't really a close call but I'll have to rethink my strategy.
Fantastic John! I couldn't agree more.
About time someone said the real truth about bull bars.
I am also a mech engineer and have had this debate with so many people who think I am crazy.
Well done.
After some 50 years of driving all manner of vehicles from outback truck driving /tour coaches to 4x4 and normal cars in every state of Australia i believe a lot of what you have stated rings true. I wish all Australians were required to do advanced driving education it would be of great benefit to everyone, we all drive too bloody fast and are always in a hurry/running late. Defensive driving will help anyone understand that they are in charge of a missile and if they aren't careful they can injure or kill other road users. There is one rule i was taught as a learner and i believe if everyone followed it it may just help to save lives, I was told when approaching a hill or a curve at night to always dipp your headlights in advance to prevent oncoming traffic being momentarily blinded allowing them to not only see the approaching vehicle but also the edge of the road ensuring they do not collide with you. Around here at night it looks like a light show with all oncoming cars having light bars or the at least high beam on, even in the built up areas. Traveling on the highway to Melbourne at night is terrible with most of the oncoming traffic on high beam even close to the city with overhead lighting.
I was also taught that if you drove on low beam at night you would not dazzle the native animals and they would generally move off the road as you approached. I never use high beam and i tend to drive at a slower pace 70 klms on gravel and 80 on bitumen.
I watch your channel regularly and like the way you go about educating the public i just wish more would take note of what you say.
Lots of idiots have the latest greatest LED 100% MORE light bulbs fitted also. In reflector housings that don't match. And not even adr approved .
I remember a formula 5000 race driver giving a lecture at our high school.
He showed a footage of a race car spinng out of control, he aimed for it and at the last moment decided a direction to avoid it it.
Riding trail bikes we aimed for roos, the bloody in the ii Ng's my would change direction so fast, by aiming at them then you cou LoL d pick a line to avoid them .
Tried and practiced , it worked, hard to apply for the novice
My trusty old 2002 Mazda 6 made the ultimate sacrifice a couple of months ago, thanks to a patch of black ice on Bells Line Of Road. I stepped out the sunroof (it was on it's side) and walked away without a single scratch. I was quite impressed with how well the thing held up to it's little excursion into a large ditch, but of course being 20 years old, there was no way it was getting repaired. The car did it's job, and did it well. Since replaced with a 2016 Subaru Outback.
I live in rural Oz. Lots of Roos and wallabies at all times of the day. At night when Roos come into view at an obtuse angle vs at the last second leaving no time to brake or avoid it that is the most scary. My Xtrail was off the road for four months after that one. I avoided Roos when on my Tiger800 using the brake, swerve recover method. The ABS on the dirt road was invaluable to retaining steering control. I hit a roo and an emu , both baulked and I was aimed at their tail end , expecting them to continue moving. The wallabies are the worst as they dart out with their heads low. I had 8 broken ribs and a collapsed lung plus concussion after that one. The nose into my front spikes stopped my bike and I flew over the bars.
Driving over Dead Horse Gap (near Thredbo) in July. Very busy with vehicles double parked & along the road. Dropped my speed to 10km/h on snow - then a child ran out between some mini buses. Fortunately no incident, but heart in mouth! Happy to have thought that was a high risk area before I entered it?
Can we get a special report on where to get that T-Shirt? Also what happened to the ming moles?
Keep in mind that in hot, dry weather, roos tend to spend more time at the side of the road because there tends to be more grass there due to road water runoff from any previous rainfall.
I don't claim to be an expert on skippies, but I do live in an area where wallabies on the road are a daily fact of life.
The tally in the last few years is about 5 dead and 3 hopped away. Not a pleasant experience either way.
I current;y have a tail imprint on the door of one vehicle from one that hopped away.
Some of my relatives drive where there are Big skippies and they are a much bigger hazard.
YES #1, risk reduction is as John says not driving high risk roads, several hours either side of dawn or dusk
I have found #2 risk reduction is good lights, in particular lights that spread a good wide even beam, that lights up the roadside.
Back in the day I used to run narrow beams that punched straight down the middle of the road.
what you will find is skippies will hop where there is light and they can see .... narrow beams encourage the skippy to hop onto and straight down the middle of the road.
A few years ago I changed to LED driving lights that are much broader than I was used to.
I find that A/ I can see skippies on the roadsides much better and much earlier and B/ that they tend to either stay put ( if they are road accustomed) or they will hop down the sides of the road or into the bush, because there is light there.
A couple of things that must be understood about skippies
1/ they are not very clever, they have a small brain for their body size and that ( particularly the stupid ones) they do not make good decisions.
2/ being a prey animal they have eyes on the sides of their heads, thus, their speed and distance judgement is not good
This combination makes skippies very unreliable and very unpredictable.
A couple of observations.
Around here 70KMH seems to be the optimum speed .... below that they can seem to think you are not comming fast enough and they can get across, above that they seem to have no concept of speed and may take fright.
If a skippy is sittiing flat footed by he side of the road, it is unlikely to be a problem, But as soon as it stands up off it's haunches, you better be careful, If it turns it's head toward the scrub and stars to lean that way ..... ya probably golden ..... but don't trust the buggers, they are stupid and unpredictable.
On the matter of Bullbars ... or what we realy should call them ROO BARS.
You have to look at the risk management equation. For me the risk of hitting a skippy is orders of magnitude higher than being in a serious crash.
with the soft fronts of modern vehicles even a slight bump with a skippy, the cost could be several thousand dollars, if this is a regular occurance, being without a front bar could be very costly. In the bush a mild hit on an unhardened vehickle could easily imobilise it.
In the north and the west, where the skippies are much bigger a front bar could save your life.
It is bad enough that the current vehicle designs are intended to bring a pedestrian up and onto the bonnet.
I can see why many in the north and west still prefer cow catcher style front bars.
Traveling in high risk areas you are safer in a taller vehicle.
A low sedan or waggon, the chances of skippy comming over your bonnet is high.
My nephew had a fullsize print of a roo on his falcon bonnet for a while ...... it hit hard, pushing the bonnet down onto the motor AND it hopped away.
The last thing you want is a 7 foot tall mildly injured Big Red comming over the bonnet and thru your windscreen still kicking with all it's power. That can kill or badly injure you.
On the matter of braking and avoidance.
Strong heavy controlled braking is by far the best choice in the majority of cases, mostly because you have no way of predicting what Skippy will do.
A loud horn early and prolonged and vigorous use is a very good thing
Some times, If you have a large hardened vehicle and the animal is relatively small, the best option is to maintain course and speed and hit the poor thing properly, especially if you are towing or on rough surfaces.
At all costs you want to keep your vehicle on the road, straight and right side up.
YOU MUST consider your and your passenger's safety as a priority, skippies get hit it is an unfortunate fact of life.
If you must travel at high risk times and high risk places, a very good choice is to wait for a large truck and follow as close behind as is safe to do so.
BTW if you hit one and it is badly injured ... don't leave it to suffer and get it off the road if you can safely. ..... I carry a breaker bar as a wheel brace, .. so far I've had to use it twice. ..yes this is unpleasant.
Mate- you're the best
I once had to sign a rental greement for an Apollo Campervan that I was relocating to another city 1100km away.
I read the whole thing including the fine print.
One of the rental conditions was not being allowed to drive between 9pm and 7am the next morning because of the danger of Kangaroos.
I was in NZ at the time.
I struck out that clause and got the manager to countersign.....
I was going to be travelling overnight in NZ and I just didn't want to take the chance eh....
Smart man. Last thing you want to be doing is reading the rental contract after you've given skippy the ol chop chop
@@Fanta....
Especially since there are no kangaroos in NZ...
only a couple of breeds of wallaby...in remote areas...
and they are almost never seen near a road...
Hit a roo the other month driving from regional NSW to Adelaide. It was of course it was at early dawn. I was doing around 80km/hr, saw the roo in the other lane, braked knowing that they usually move and as you can guess, roo decided it was hell bent on being hit and jumped in my lane. Bullbar came away mostly unscathed, ute was completely functional and the roo was no longer part of the living world. In terms of swerving away from the roo as suggested, I would never do it as I know that hitting the roo will always be safer than swerving into the unknown and putting more stress on the dynamics of the vehicle, especially a dual cab ute that doesn't have the best dynamics in the first place.
What the situation did change for me is that I am currently looking at upgrading the brakes to discs all around, along with a few other improvements, as if I can improve my braking distance, I reckon next time I will have different results.
Thanks once again for an excellent video. We are opting for a bull bar on an upcoming 4wd, but mainly as we actually off-road and need it for winch mounting and genuine off road projection. I fell better re pedestrians knowing it has automatic braking.
I’m actually partly upgrading based on your advice. I consider myself a good driver and have been forced to successfully swerve a number of times due to other drivers. However, thanks to your videos I’m worried about rapid deceleration should i hit something. Same to with the safety of others. So an extra set of eyes is welcome.
Btw, we are omitting the side hoops, as this feels safer for other road users.
Agree 100% that it's better to buy hit a roo in the first place and you are spot on with your advice.
However I would have a bull bar for the following reasons, a winch, spot lights, aerial mount and recovery points. I like to go family camping with just the one vehicle so consider these points extra insurance as well as driving to the conditions.
I've used a roo bar in anger only once. I was driving from Kalgoorlie to Perth in 1993, going via York (quieter road, less traffic). 10:00pm at night, after turning off at Meckering, doing 140kph (as you do when you have a legal radar detector) in my VL Berlina turbo, roo appeared from the right about 30m from me. No time to brake, roo puts his head through the roo bar into RHS headlight. Roo was dispatched by bouncing off. Damage to bonnet, headlight, guard, and roobar. I was still able to continue driving home. I agree, I could have reduced my risk by simply adhering to the speed limit, but it was a risk I chose to take. I have never put the frontal crash protection of any of my cars to the test by hitting another car in my 47 yrs of driving. Now that I'm living in Wollongong, roo strike isn't a major problem for me
Been on the Barrier HWY. Hit a small one buckled the bullbar. Best tips are not at night, reduce speed, and drive in the middle of the road to give yourself space.
I have to point out that driving a modern car with DSC (stability control) is very different in a swerve situation than an old car. It's actually far easier to swerve, however, it's absolutely imperative to remember which way the steering is pointing. That's why holding the wheel with two hands at all times is so important, if you forget where the centre point is it will be almost impossible to regain control. I have followed cars that have made this mistake, seeing them dart left and right violently as the DSC applies brakes on either side of the car, resulting in crashes into the barriers at 90 degrees to the road.
I have to admit that the first time I experienced the power of DSC was when a kangaroo jumped out, what I expected to be a slide was just a blink of an orange light in my peripheral vision. Had I been holding the steering with one hand, it would have almost been impossible to not crash, as I would have no idea where to point the steering once completing the swerve.
On an old car, you may get away with bad steering because once it starts to slide, the steering has less effect, giving you more time to find the grip point again. Remember DSC is not instant, so you may think you have control then suddenly the computer applies brakes on one side of the car. This even can catch out experienced drivers who are used to sliding their cars.
not sure if you'll see this comment or respond, however your advice to slow down at dawn or dusk is very valid. I was riding a motor bike with a pillion ( my GF at the time) and we had to push abit further after dusk to get to the next camp site. i thought i saw a shadow in the distance in the middle of the road in my headlight, so i slowed down from 80 to 60 and as i approached closer, the shadow "grew" and I dropped down to 40 and approached cautiously. i was aware that light and shadows can play tricks on your mind, especially at night, but i wasnt going to throw caution to the wind. as i the metres diminished, the shadow turned into a damn big bull, casually standing in the middle of the highway... need i say, glad i had my commonsense hat on that night lol
Good point about bull bars and car construction. Imo they only seem to be any use if the vehicle has a full chassis, like a truck or an old Landy. Looking at most modern cars, and the shape of the inner wing, there's a significant gap where driveshafts etc poke through, so a BB is only going to fit on the the front bumper mounts, which as you point out is going to transfer loads into that area (etc).
Here in the UK (hello) a few van drivers (Ford Transit types) have them fitted, but they appear more of a decorative feature (chrome plated) than any real use.
We fitted deer whistles to our Holden Barina and never hit a deer in Queensland.
When I first got my licence some 50yrs ago I use to go out to some gravel rds and practice stopping opposite lock ect to ready ones self for that moment!!
I live in an area with lots of suicidal wildlife. I have found that scanning left and right constantly as you drive helps. I have only been surprised when doing the relaxed staring down the road thing.
Excellent advice, including the bullbar observation.
Something that has worked for me is be noisy and don't dazzle.
Modern cars are quiet and you can be up close to roadside roos very quickly before they realise it, especially if you are coming around a corner. So I have no qualms giving an occasional blast on the horn, being mindful of dwellings, to help announce my arrival. It might encourage the roos to start moving away from the road.
I also use high beam sparingly. A dazzled roo will NOT jump into darkness off the side of the road every time. They often tend to stay within the realestate they can actually see, which sadly is in your healdlight beams, if their night vision is destroyed by a long exposure to high beams. Thus, I just use high beam intermittently and am careful to avoid high beam when roos are sighted.
And of course, knock 10 kph off your speed. It makes a huge difference in braking and swerving safety.
Cheers
I honk for birds on the road. My idiot co driver drove through a flock of them once and I had to dispatch one that was stuck in the headlights for an hour
Drove from Menindee to Broken Hill just after dusk. I led a procession of cars happy to follow me at slow speed as I had big lights and a bull bar. The biggest risk was hitting stray sheep. In many kilometers of outback driving, I've only had one kangaroo strike and that was in the middle of the day. My aging Land Rover looks better with a bull bar.
Good town Broken Hill. Grew up there.
Swerving is a good strategy. However many country roads are narrow and have dirt edges. If swerving is not viable, I prefer to brake heavily while lining Skippy up with my right headlight. Minimising radiator issues and staying left of centre. It’s worked once before. The car was still drivable and some “100 mph” tape kept the dangling grill pieces in check.
And it works every time
When reps talk at our Four Wheel Drive club. They told us that Bull bars are designed to protect the radiator in an impact. This is so your vehicle is not incapacitated after a collision with a Roo. ARB and TJM does do crash testing. You can look up TJM's testing on you tube. Most high quality Airbag Compatible Bullbars have a crushable mounting behind them and are designed to work with the cars airbag systems. It's probably best to contact ARB or TJM about the specifics. I hope I have sent you in the right direction.
TARGET FIXATION.. when i did My motorcycle license (Melbourne Au). WHERE YOU LOOK IS WHERE YOU GO was Drummed into us, also we were lucky enough in secondary school to get a 2 day course at DECA(driver education center of Australia where the police get trained) and that had a massive driver training session that should be taught in every school (get the big picture, aka don't look at the car in front's bumper...look well ahead and all round for options at all times). learning to drive is an underestimated form of road/car safety.
That beef road is shocking for Roo's, I've hit many on that road. I reckon people are crazy driving without a bullbar out there. I do often have people 'using my bullbar' (following close behind me). I'd suggest following behind a truck in the danger times if you don't have a bullbar.
Worst thing to do on a motorcycle, follow too close and you'll never see the road kill.
I smash one a month on average it's just if you don't have a bullbar you're done! The grey wankers also run into the side of your car as well. .
Yeah my uncle had one smack into the rear passanger door whilst he was doing 100km.
Nice dent in the door
I thought most of the grey wankers were towing caravans at 80 km an hour until they hit an overtaking lane and then do 110. 😉
I live on the rural fringes of Melbourne and do all of the things suggested. However that doesn't stop people in a rush tailgating and then roaring past at the first opportunity nearly every morning and night on the way home.
One thing to avoid after dark is the use of high beam (counterintuitively).. Kangaroos get spooked by their own shadow and do stupid things (like jumping in front of you). Let your eyes adjust and drive accordingly. Speed is a big factor, as much because a slower pace also gives them more time and a better chance of responding to their perceived threat that you pose to them. There's still some risk if there's lots of obscuring vegetation close to the roadside.
Close but not quite. They aren't spooked by their own shadow. You’re just not thinking like a macropod (kangaroo). One minute your tucking into the best fodder around, the next minute you have a big loud predator approaching you at great speed, so you want to get out of there post haste. First thing you do is bounce off into the bush, but then, crap I can't see because some basted knocked out my night vision. Ok, before I knock myself senseless on a tree I have better head for where I can see, you know where the light is. Of course this means on the road right in front of you.
There’s a Dingo creek a few clicks east of Mount Isa. Not DP creek unfortunately, though I still have a little grin to myself as I drive over it whenever I’m coming or going from the Isa.
Great info as per your usual standard John, thank you. Something that kind of relates to this i.e night time driving and the glare from headlights coming the other way that stop you from seeing the rodents and bigger animals. I watch a few US truck drivers on utube and they all have 2 very small red lights in the top corner of the truck wiondscreens that come on with their main lights. When I asked what they were for the replies said they stop the glare of oncoming traffic head lights. I had never heard of this before and wonder if it is an actual solution? or just a myth? Cheers Mark
I had a few near miss with roos. Fully agree everyone should be able to act properly in emergency. I do have disagreement:
Bullbar has legit usages - Sometimes (particularly driving off-road), protecting the car is very important, you don't want to get stuck in middle of nowhere. And you don't want roo flying toward you, smashing through the window and hit your face at high speed.
Absolutely there is a creek in Dingo, when it does flood they close the road, driving that road to Middlemount there are areas of no phone service so having a bill bar just may be the difference of still being able to drive on or sit on the side of the road, 35 years of remote area driving and I found the best you can buy lighting, drive with “wide eyes” continually looking at reactions and swerving options, I’ve driven vehicles with and without bars at night and fortunately have never had any serious hits due to just being on constant alert with a plan although I have had many frights, following a truck to act as a protective buffer I found worse as what they hit you don’t get to see until too late usually sending it flying in your direction or they straddle something already dead and your reaction time is massively reduced
Spot on re bullbars.
We’ve got Dear Whistles on the front of our truck hear in America, no walbees though. I see Mule Dear, Moose, Bears, Bighorns to Chipmonks.
They all always have one thing in common, they all have they’re ears aimed right at me…..
It's the ones that bound out from the verge.. Hit one at daybreak that jumped the Armco rail on the Calder Fwy just North of Kyneton - very difficult to avoid. The Calder is a killing field for both Kangaroos and Motor vehicles..
Yes one bounded out of a paddock on a main highway into Brisbane at 11.30 am one day and picked my car to hit .There was heaps of traffic and I had nowhere to go but to cop the impact .
I'm fairly convinced that bouncers sometimes panic and decide to jump to the open area they can see: the area in front of the car illuminated by the lights.
Re Bullbars: I've heard of cars suffering chassis damage due to the transfer of forces to the point of attachment of said Bullbar which probably turned out to be worse than the damage the roo would have done without the bar. Cars were structural write offs
Roos get target fixation as well. I always found that giving them a few seconds low beam often results in them taking their own avoiding action & getting off the road.
I stuck those black plastic "ultrasound whistle" things to my car 10 years ago and have never had a roo encounter .
Have had near misses in other vehicles though?
And I’ve been driving since 1982 without them on any car, and have never hit a roo either. Most people haven’t hit one.
Perhaps the other vehicles didn't hear you coming.
Agree with your comments here John. Also re bullbars I think there is a company could SmartBar in south Australia that has ANCAP crash tested winch compatible bullbars.
Johno,
The key in an animal strike is REDUCE the MAIN RISK.
Great comment on time of day a person travels.
In Queensland winter months roos come to the green feed right beside the bitumen at those times because everything else has dried off.
Growing up in rural areas & on dirt roads we developed high skill levels for skid recovery.
Learn SKID CONTROL & RECOVERY until it is an automatic instinct. Avoid hitting cattle, horses, donkeys, camels as they can potentially give you very severe injuries.
However for kangaroo's it is not worth the risk of rolling your car. In a rollover because of a roo the damage to yourself is the biggest risk.
DIP headlights, to reduce their own moving shadow they see as we are approach,
HOLD the car in a straight line,
JAMB on the brakes. Most often this gives the animal time to respond rather than react.
RELEASE the brakes immediately before impact. This allows the front of the car to regain it's normal height, (reducing the chance of the roo coming through the windscreen). If you do impact the roo, it is at a much slower speed, and it may make the car undrivable, however it can be repaired or replaced. In a roll over the sorts of injuries you can get are likely to be with you for the rest of your life. This has served me well in my driving in many rural & outback areas only once ending up with an undrivable vehicle.
Remember, there are some roos you just don't get time to do anythning!!!
My Mum once had a large boomer crush the bonnet on a HQ Holden by landing in the middle of it as she went past at 100 kmh. It sure looked strange.
Very good advice. You also have to imagine situations in advance. When faced with and emergency that is not the time for internal debate. The first time you experinece lock free braking it is un-nerving. On the car I am thinking of the pedal actually moved your foot up and down. First time I expereinced a rev limiter ooperating on the track was also a surprise. You do not need addtional surprises when faced with a real situation. Have them safely in a controled environment. I put three children through the advanced driver traing and have done it myself inaddition to track days. I still do training and sprint days at 78 years of age. Was on the skid pan 2 weeks ago adn learned soem new things. Cars have changed greatly since we got chips with them.
M.O.S.T for motorcycle riders includes emergency braking and swerving, a similar system should be incorporated into driving test for car license testing.