Wild Life on the road.....How do you deal with this situation ????

Because of the deaths that have arisen from swerving to miss animals, including my uncle who swerved to miss a rabbit, I generally stay straight.
When I first started driving, I did the occasional swerve to miss, but many times the animal use to turn as well, still resulting in a hit.

Being from the country, animals dying was never an issue. Some city dwellers I know freak out at the thought of an animal dying by their "hand"

What a tragic and sad chain of events Fred.

It is instinct to swerve, particularly for animal lovers, but the rule of the country is try and stop keeping straight, and never swerve - too easy to loose control. With a larger animal it still may not be good. All the more important if towing a caravan. It is also instinct to swerve in the direction of travel of the animal in which case you are most likely to still line it up.

When towing, we never travel at night in bush, pastoral and open areas. Other times with caution and only if we really need to. Of course these can happen in daytime too, as is most likely the case in the tragedy you have reported. I saw a caravan which had a camel run into it during daylight hours - significant damage and a holiday ruined as well.

Motherhen

Travelling north on the NW coastal highway and getting dark but we wanted to get to Carnarvon for the night. We had the Cruiser and a trailer loaded to the gunwales. There were a couple of utes pulled out behind us, these guys had just finished taking down all the road works signs. I slowed a bit to let them past us and followed for an hour or so. One of the utes loaded with road work signs and witches hats pulled over (comfort stop??) and caught up with us a bit later. So we had the first ute, me and the second ute. We were only about 10 k's out of town when the guy behind me decided to catch up with his mate and started to overtake me. That was when a couple of rather large cattle stepped out of the darkness to my left and figured the grass was greener on the right hand side of the road. No way was I going to swerve. The first one decided discretion was the best option and ducked back, his more adventurous offsider continued missing my roo bar by a couple of feet and straight into the path of the ute overtaking me. The ute driver swung his ute to the left, reallised I was right beside him and swung the wheel back. I had visions of either him side swiping me or unloading half his "Caution Men At Work" signes onto me.
How the hell neither of us hit that dopey great pile of "hamburger on the hoof", hit each other or I missed out on some new sign writing on the side of the Cruiser I will never know.
I suspect it was new undies all around in Carnarvon that night, it certainly was for me.

Cheers
Pop

In split second situations like that my thinking is to try wash off as much speed as possible before hitting the animal. Swerving suddenly in either direction will almost always have a worse outcome be it striking a tree, hitting an oncoming car or over-correcting & rolling.
Certainly a tragedy & always difficult know if put in that position how you'd react.
Craig............

I always smash the brakes - if ive slowed down enough then i swerve, it also gives you time to asses the situation.

if I havnt slowed down enough or assesed the situation i carry on under brakes maybe hitting maybe not

I hired a car in Darwin once, it was a few years ago.
I was on my way to Kakadu for a few days, the guy at the hire car mob told me not to swerve for any animals, I said that won't happen, but he continued to tell his story.

A German family of 5 had hired a car of him a few weeks earlier, apparently this as a trip of a life time, they had saved hard and long for this trip to Austrailia and had plans to spend 3 months travelling our country, they had arrived in Darwin the day before to start their trip, about 2 km inside Kakadu they swerved to miss a Goanna, they lost control of the car and hit a tree and they all died, unfortunatly that was the end of the story.

I came across a bad accident one day, a young man 23 had just put 2 wheels over the edge of the road, that is the last he remembers, we turned up a few minutes later he was trying to wake his girl friend up, I ushered him over to 2 others that had stopped as well, ( they were in shock) I asked them to use my first aid kit and to address his minor cuts etc, I went to the car and confirmed the worst, she wasn't wearing a seat belt, we worked out that the car had rolled 4 times and she must have died the first time over, I rang 000 on the Sat phone, it was the longest hour of my life.

So when you are out there drive safe and be carefull

I had a big grey bounce out in front of me at 2 in the morning sitting on 160kph with a 2 ton trailer on the back, i decided to swerve very slightly just clipping it, scared the hell outta me.

Out near longreach last year an emu ran in front of me, but with the van on i wasnt game to swerve so was forced to flatten the poor thing, i felt terrible but couldnt do much about it.
Better to save our lives than the birds i suppose.

A few other times i just run straight over animals unless its really safe to swerve. ie low speed, otherwise its too risky.

I always worry about swerving but somehow never really do thank goodness, its hard to actually calculate much when its literally a fraction of a second to process it, it must be just reflex.

Cheers

I always tell the wife, DONOT swerve for anything, hit the brakes (both vehicles have ABS) and hope for the best. I dont care if she hits a dog,cat,bird,cow just dont swerve at speed or you will end up on your roof, I have enforced that into her head like watching the temp guage lol. I told her even if a car swerves into her lane let it side swipe you and hang onto the steering wheel obviously under brakes if possible unless you have a semi up your date then back off but hang on straight and let them hit metal to metal because if you swerve and hit the car beside you but the car that swerved at you in the first place doesnt make contact with our vehicle guess whos footing the bill for the other car ?? you/me.........

Some years ago I went by coach to Katherine from Geraldton to help my old man to bring a vehicle back to Perth after a medical problem put his mate in hospital.

Just after Overland roadhouse (evening meal stop) the coach drivers explained that we were now in Nor West grasshopper country and that the safety of the passengers was paramount. "We do not deliberately aim to hit any animals on the road, but we will NOT swerve the coach to miss them.

By the time we arrived in Karratha the next morning we had hit 23 roos and taken out all but one headlight. The only damage apart from the lights was a slight buckle in the big steel bull bar.
All lights were replaced during the breakfast stop and we continued uneventfully on to Katherine, arriving the following afternoon.

The last time I travelled that far on a coach........Never again

Disco

Fred, my old man used to run the bus services between Mildura and Broken Hill in the late 70’s and early 80’s. If anyone has driven the Silver City Highway at night, they’ll know what I mean. His record was 48 roos in a single night, one way! It got a fair bit of attention and a media crew from Melbourne came up to follow the bus with a camera. They hired a car from Mildura Airport and met the bus at Wentworth. They made it to Pomona......7 km north of Wentworth before hitting a roo that ended their trip! Pricey, the bus driver that night only hit 18 for the trip north!

I have a rule that anything sheep or below, I hit straight on. I never swerve unless I know it’s clear to do so (ie; long lonely stretch of isolated road). This includes roos, emus and feral swine. Larger animals like cattle horse or camel, I’ll give it a go dependant on how much time I have and the the strength and coverage of my head lights. It’s an easier rule of thumb to be camped early and have a beverage in the hand blessing the setting sun than running the gauntlet on the open road at night ;-)


Cheers Mick

Tragic accident alright, it's not the first time and won't be the last for people swerving to avoid an animal, I remember hearing about a woman that swerved to avoid some Galah's, and rolled the car, less damage would have been done if she had hit half a dozen.

Here's a little hint from an Ex truckie...At night be aware of the post reflectors close and afar, you don't need to stare at them but if you notice one go out and come on again be prepared, something walked between it and you, this was something I learned back in the 80's when driving a Road-Train Brisbane to Darwin, especially West of Toowoomba and North up through Augathella.

.

Sadly I'm quite used to wildlife on my regular roads and my reaction is usually to ease off on the accelerator but go on through the poor beasty...

I can remember my first few hits and how I tried to miss them. Not only does it not often work, but horribly dangerous. I wonder you know... how my now practiced reaction would kick in if a human were to step in my path?

As I write this... I just heard the news on the radio about the accident. So sad. It's a war out there.

I am positively surprised that the answers are all so realistic and mostly correct. I live in and completed research into traffic crashes in western NSW. Without getting the actual numbers out, the main cause of crashes out here is animals and large percentage of those result in a roll over.
Backing off the gas and holding it straight is the way to go, braking heavily will cause the front of the vehicle to dip increasing the risk of skippy coming into the cabin.
It aldo demonstrates why bullbars are a must in the bush.

Is the instinct to swerve a reaction to saving the animal or protecting the vehicle? I know that I think of the Cruiser before worrying about skittling a critter.

Fred,
Guess there is one thing here and that is you won't stop peoples first reaction.

For those who travel a lot and come across animals big and small they tend to just drive straight through while washing off speed. They have already scared the hell out of themselves earlier in their travels and that lesson sticks in the brain.

Couple of things that annoy me is when you have the highway much to yourself and another vehicle comes up behind and sits right behind not wanting to pass. I have checked to see if my vehicle is on heat and that is not it. I believe they are scared to travel alone or love playing follow the leader. They bugger up any hope of you stopping quickly for anything that gets in your path.

The other is people driving past injured animals and not stopping to put them out of their misery. Pretty simple process with a hammer.

RA.

I have only been in Broken Hill for 6 or 7 years now our major problems is Emus so many of them and now the drought has broken less roos my way of driving is drive at a safe speed i would prefer to be late home than not making it

I have so many over take me many not knowing local conditions and as i said Emus are plague proportions I am off to Adelaide for a doctors appointment I will just take my time from here to Yunta and I do have a solid roo bar it the worst does happen no heavy braking or swerving

Much that I love animals, if I have time I will go left other than that its straight ahead and lose as much speed as possible. Another good reason for the steel bullbar.

Just the same as Crackles, Tim and others above.
FYI: Philip stands for lover of horses, but I change that to lover of all animals.

Phil

Going by the replies, which mainly end up with the animal getting hit, i'm guessing there are no Greenies in this forum. No members of PETA?

I can just imagine some of their replies.


lol


Better to roll the car and kill yourself, than injure an innocent animal......

lol

i have spent many years driving on very remote roads and often at night and dusk (the worst time) and the answer is simple as others have already stated, hit the brakes as hard as possible without locking up and do NOT even turn the wheel at all, with a van behine it is even more important as if it is in line it will pull up far better, yes you may hit it smack bang and do a lot of damage but you and your loved ones WILL get out and live to tell the story .....
I had a roo hit me at about 80kmh, it jumped as it hit so it hit only the bar with it's tail, smashing both spotties i may add, it then came over the bonnet (75 series) and landed on the windscreen right in front of me, smashed THROUGH the windscreen and landed on my LAP, peeling back the windscreen over my knuckles/steering wheel and into my face, from the second i saw it hti i could no longer see anything, i hung on a tight as i can and kept it all in line done the road with brakes fully locked, i was plastered with fine glass and HOT roo blood and guts all over my upper body and face, lucky for me i had sunnies on so saved my sight, my knuckles were cut with zillions of fine cuts and glass but i stopped still on my side of the road and still on the tar ......
IF ... i had swerved i would without a doubt have rolled over .....

Lesson.... NEVER SWERVE, even for a small rabbit or bird, it WILL KILL YOU, if it is small just keep the line and plow on and pull up when safe and check for damage, even the biggest beast just hit it square with brakes fully applied and wheel straight...
Most cars have air bags ect and if a frontal impact is bad but you will live ....

Cheers and be safe
Joe n mel n kids

Fred,


Lot of agreement here in heavy braking before an impact, and I'll agree with that.


But how many of us have done an emergency stop lately, or even practiced one. Vehicle dynamics change considerably when you hit the anchors hard, and if you haven't done a few before, you might be in for a surprise. Yeah, ABS might help, but how many 79, 80 series and Pootrols have ABS?


Pick a quiet street somewhere, and at 60 clicks, hit the brakes hard. And do a few more, for good measure. I have only done one emergency stop since "retiring" to town, nearly 4 years ago. We used to practise them regularly with staff, as part of our safety program.


Was travelling back to Winton, east of Middleton, and in the dusk couldn't really see the bitumen in the distance. Did a double blink, and the reason I couldn't see the bitumen was there was a rather tall camel standing in the middle of the black top. Increased heart rate, and rapid de-acceleration that evening.


Another point about running over animals. Often "low slung" animals like dogs & cats can pass unscathed under 4WDs, because of the clearance. Even had a dog for 12 years, that was run over by a Landcruiser ute, both front & back wheels, and survived for many years after.


But always sad to hear of such loss of live on the roads.


Bob

Hi Fred,

Its a tough one to predict what I'd do in an event like that but Ive had my share of skippys, pigs and emus jump out in front of me and i dont swerve I stay straight. I have a good bullbar which eliminates damage to the front of the car (sadly not underneath).

I'd say I wouldnt swerve and so far I haven't, but you never know

Cheers Wilko

A few years ago I had to drive the Hume near Coolac at 3 on a sunday morning. I hadn't hardly passed a car or seen a roo, it was very quiet. It was still a single lane each way road at that time when I came around a bend and found a roo siiting in the middle of my lane and a giant truck coming the other way. I had no choice but to clean the roo up, no slamming the brakes on at a bend or swerving with the truck there. That must have been the unluckiest roo ever to be sitting their when the only two vehicles on the road were passing each other.
The results of swerving for animals are demonstrated on youtube if you search the Elk Test in Sweden. The new Jeep Grand Cherokee failed the test by nearly flipping itself over as did the Toyota Hilux. The test simulates swerving for an Elk (moose in Sweden). They have elk signs on many of the roads in Scandinavia.

Interesting debate, although the crash near Bathurst wasn't caused by an animal. Apparently there was a dog dead at the scene, but this came from one of the vehicles.

That doesn't detract from the topic though as some good advice was given that could be a life saver.

Paul

Good discussion Fred!

My first car was a Suzuki LJ80v which had drum brakes and 6" cross-ply tyres on each corner - I quickly learned not to swerve in panic maneouvres!

A few years back, I also started driving coaches and remember the head mechanic instructing us newbies that no matter what happens, keep the coach on the road (ie. no swerving) - even if there's a car coming straight for you, it will all end up much worse if you take the coach off the edge of the road.

One morning, one of the school buses was involved in a head-on collision because someone had made the judgement that the front of an oncoming bus posed a smaller threat than a fluffy kangaroo.

One morning as I neared my office, there was a magpie on the road - hardly a serious threat even for a cyclist. I gently steered to the left around this magpie as it walked across the road and the lady tailgating me panicked and drove onto the wrong side of the road. It's hard to imagine a busier time on the road, and this lady made a very serious error of judgement, choosing to risk it with the oncoming traffic rather than chance it with a little birdie - I'd suggest people like this are not of sufficiently sound judgment to be allowed to drive, but our governments seem to view driving as a right, not a privilege. Of course, had she not been sitting so close behind me, she'd have had more time to react but I'm still not sure she'd have responded any more wisely.

I've even got footage of someone in a Corolla overtaking a cyclist even though there was a bus coming the other way and the cyclist was keeping up with the traffic.

I am amazed (and horrified) by the number of people who swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid an animal, or even to drive around a parked car or slower vehicle - it doesn't even seem to matter what's coming the other way.
The lesson is: beware, one day it could be YOU coming the other way when one of these people swerves around an animal or other obstacle.

Add to that the combination of speed when swerving can cause loss of control. Having watched a few YouTube clips of various crashes, besides the right angle collisions at intersections, I couldn't help but notice the significant number of crashes that seemed to be caused by people driving far too fast for the situation and/or swerving at speed to avoid something - even if they avoided the initial problem, they often ended up making a bigger problem as they spun out of control. It's often not the initial swerve that causes the problem, rather a corrective swerve to avoid running off the road (see also the Elk Test referred to above - the cars tip up on the second swerve, though the driver in those videos makes it far worse by using very harsh rather than smooth fluid steering movements).

Just to set the record straight on this terrible accident.

A dog was NOT the cause of the accident. The dead dog at the scene of the accident was infact travelling in a trailer of one of the cars involved and was killed as a result of the accident.

Being a madfisher I am often coming home just after dark, my first rule is slow down.Travel at least 20ks slower then you would of a day. I have a 4wd with a b/bar , yet small cars will pull out and pass me unaware of the danger. Mind you I have had a few lately who also refuse to pass me which is under standable.
Cheers Pete