Thread: Protection bar between crush cans

Originally Posted by Disco Muppet

If you're deliberately hitting any animal with your vehicle I'd agree.
What happens though, if you go around a blind corner, still under the legal speed limit and there's one sitting in the road?
Do you risk injury to you and any passengers you've got?

Drive to the conditions. You know there is potential for wildlife on the roads at night, so drive accordingly.

Never driven the Cradle Mountain Rd then. The night I drove up there it was a wombat and devil slalom course.

Originally Posted by OffTrack

Drive to the conditions. You know there is potential for wildlife on the roads at night, so drive accordingly.

Yes but there's such a thing as being too anticipatory.
Even if driving to the conditions is knocking 10-15km off your speed, the distances at which most animal strikes occur or first become apparent don't really leave an awful lot of time to react, let alone stop.
What are you to do? Crawl around each corner on the assumption that there's something on the road? That's as dangerous as going too fast, because you might become the "something on the road".
You can drive to the conditions, be familiar with the area, you can do everything in your power possible, but sometimes it's just wrong place wrong time.

Never ever swerve to "miss" wildlife of any description. So many injuries and deaths have occured due to drivers who "dodged" a kangaroo, rabbit, dog, etc. Wombats are like hitting a large concrete speed hump so I have been told IF a collision is unavoidable center of mass works :d collisions are mostly avoidable by speed reduction and knowledge but there is always the suicidle 1s. Have had roos dive into the side of cars, cattle jump off embankments onto the car as it drove past emus instead of crossing the road turn and charge up the center into the car! But that is what bullbars and insurance is for!
Cheers Scottt

Exactly. I definitely value the life of the people I'm prepared to let get in my car more than the life of skippy.

The last roo I hit I didn't even see until the head flopped over the bonnet under the hoop of the bar.

Originally Posted by schuy1

Never ever swerve to "miss" wildlife of any description. So many injuries and deaths have occured due to drivers who "dodged" a kangaroo, rabbit, dog, etc.

Sadly only too true, all those country accidents due to "unknown causes." If only they taught young drivers a few simple lessons in driving school it save who knows how many lives.

Have had roos dive into the side of cars, cattle jump off embankments onto the car as it drove past emus instead of crossing the road turn and charge up the center into the car! But that is what bullbars and insurance is for!

I did a run up to Exmouth a year or so back and driving to our campsite at about 50kph with one vehicle about 50-100m behind the other the roos were making a mad dash to get through the gap in between, must have had 15 pass through! Even varying speed and distance had no effect. Then there was the poor lady who pulled in towing a caravan with badly smashed front end. Seems a roo though he could make it between the car and camper!