MORE THAN IN MOST OTHER COUTNRIES in the world, Australian motorists need to drive to avoid kangaroos, dogs, cats, cattle and any number of other creatures that infest our roads. A little anticipation can go a long way to ensuring you, your car, your passengers and animals remain safe. Additional considerations for senior drivers are that our reaction time slows as we get older, and our ability to see and recognise a potential threat is reduced.
The first thing to remember is that animals have a very poor sense of road safety. They won’t take action to avoid you, so you have to take action to avoid them. Hitting an animal, especially a large animal like a kangaroo or cow can be a shocking experience resulting in trauma and injury for the animal, extensive damage to your vehicle and possible injury to yourself and your passengers.
Ensure you keep your car windows clean and clear. This way, you give yourself the best chance of spotting an animal in time to take evasive action. It becomes even more vital when the sun is low, causing dazzle, and that’s the time many native animals are at their most active.
The high risk period is in winter when conditions are at their worst, but no time of the year is exempt. Any time from sunset to sunrise and especially in the hours shortly before and after sunrise is when you are most likely to encounter animals. Switch your headlights on to give you greater vision ahead. Use high beam whenever possible but remember to dip them for oncoming vehicles and if you spot an animal ahead.
Many wildlife crossings are signposted, so take extra care at these locations. However, don’t forget that animals can appear on the road at any time on your journey, even in the suburbs.
Avoid tailgating and travel at a suitable speed for the conditions. The faster you travel, the less time you give yourself to react to a hazard. While avoiding an animal is a natural reaction, avoid swerving the car away from the animal as you may lose control. As for those idiots who deliberately swerve to hit snakes, lizards and other small animals, the less said the better.
If you’ve seen one kangaroo, emu or cow, expect to see more. Where there’s one, there’s usually another and missing the first only to smash into the second isn’t a good plan.
If you do collide with an animal, the first thing to do is ensure that it isn’t in pain. If it is severely injured, you will need to put it out of its misery. If you’ve hit a domestic pet, common courtesy suggests you should make every effort to notify the owner. If you’ve hit a wild animal, contact WIRES or some other body who will take the appropriate action, whether it’s putting the animal down or taking it away for treatment. If you have hit a farm animal such as a cow, sheep or horse, report the collision to the police who will contact the owner and decide who was at fault and is responsible (animals are required to be confined and not allowed to roam the streets, but that won’t necessarily mean you won’t be held responsible if you have hit and injured or killed an animal).