Thread: I've been roo'd

I seem to remember Canberra described recently as the roo strike capital!

Originally Posted by Gregz

Went away on the weekend to the ski fields, driving south through Canberra, took a detour to avoid the blocked traffic on the Monaro hwy, went along Canberra ave and then onto Lanyon Drive in Queanbeyan. Which is where it struck. Damage is mainly to headlight and front fender, a small ding on the bonnet and another on the passenger door, and the passenger door handle end has gone (just out of photo) . Anyway, its costing me $2.2k in excess (ouch) . I could try and source the parts independently of insurance, but the headlight assembly is something like $1.3k alone, so I think I will just take the hit through insurance. Oh well. Interestingly that was the only roo I saw all the way to Jindabyne. This one must have survived, as I could not find it when I went back to take a look.
On the way home on Sunday, travelling north in NSW just south of ACT border, and into ACT itself there are dozens of road-kills all in about a 5km section, along with left over bumpers and other miscellaneous car parts... bit like some zombie apocalypse. I made sure I was travelling in a 'convoy' for protection .

I feel for you mate. Ouch alright !
I've had a few kamakazi wallabies strike my car over the years while driving to and from work when I lived out in the sticks. I was always on high alert driving at dawn and dusk. Even slowing down to 30 kph they would hop along side for a while and just when they realised I was getting away from them, they would suddenly sidestep into my door or rear panel !
The best solution I found was to blast the horn off and on as soon as I saw them and keep it up until I had passed them, all the while being ready to speed up or slow down to take evasive action. I would do this whether they were near the road or not.
A wallabi or roo will thump the ground with it's tail when taking off in a panic to alert the rest of the mob ( even the ones you can't see ) They always seemed to take off in roughly the same direction as the one that raise the alarm ( away from the honking horn ).
I had one poor barstad go under the car once.
I felt sick in the guts as I watched him writhe around on the ground in pain. I went back to the car to get the wheel brace to put him out of his misery (it was all I had )but when I got back he was slowly hopping off into the bush. I don't think he would have survived.
Anyway good luck with the repairs. I hope thing work out as well as they can. Cheers.

I had my Territory registered for two weeks before I hit a roo.
The Camry had hit two and the Commodore had hit four. All of this in the last seven years. There seems to be a lot more roos about. I hardly saw them until almost ten years ago. Now I seem to be dodging several each week.
There is lots of road kill about now and I see lots of cars around with light and panel damage similar to yours.

Ha,I think I'm the roo capital, I simply cannot believe how many there are, they are destroying everything,
At one point the neighbor was hitting an average of 4 on the way to school every day in a patrol wagon, can't believe the thing is still going.

I rolled a big one in the 6x6 out near Middlemount the other evening. I was doing 100 at the time and didn't see him at all until he hit and his head was about 500mm above the top of the bullbar. I think the winch mount and the centre bar of the bullbar copped most of the weight as the centre bar is the only bit that is bent a little inwards. Thankfully no other damage other than a bent brake dust shield underneath. Tomorrow I am going to hook up the bullbar to a tree and back up a little to straighten it. That's the 2nd big roo I have hit out that way in the last year. Luckily I have a decent bar!!

There's definitely a lot more about. I hit one on the way into town last week. Went under the bullbar, hit him with both diffs, looking in the mirror, he didn't move. No damage to the 110.

On average I get about one a year. But there have been a lot of near misses lately.

My niece, who commutes into Dubbo, has hit two in the last year or so - and her Hyundai I30 does not stand up to it near as well as the 110 does. Her sister, who also commutes, hit one about six weeks ago and was without her RAV4 for about a month. When I picked up my mail at the local shop last week, there was a woman I didn't know getting the bloke there to see if her car was still driveable, after hitting one just up the road.

I have hit 2 so far this year and a couple of sheep as well without any damage to my D2a, The 2.5k i spent on the ARB bullbar has paid for itself without a doubt

I would say the lack of feed is bringing them to the verge in NSW.
I recently spent a week at a mates farm and there were wombats and Roo’s feeding all day. Previously when we were there and there was a lot more grass you only saw them in the evening, night or at dawn.