How to avoid hitting an animal and the resulting road kill carnage

Hitting an animal with your vehicle is never a good thing. Here are seven tips on how to avoid animal hits and the resulting roadkill carnage.


December 15, 2022

Hitting an animal with your vehicle is never a good thing and let’s be honest, when it does happen, it’s usually a kangaroo. They’re known for jumping directly in front of your headlights and the damage to your vehicle is more often than not…bad. 

Not only is the damage really bad to both your vehicle and the animal, but it can also be really gross. Particularly if you drive over one that’s already been hit by another vehicle. Anyone who’s had to use a gerni to remove the resulting road kill carnage from their vehicle knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Obviously, the best way to deal with hitting an animal when driving is to avoid hitting them altogether. And although there is no foolproof way to avoid it, here are seven useful tips on how to reduce animal strikes and the resulting road kill carnage.

© pexels / sabel blanco

1 – Avoid driving at dusk, dawn and night

Outside of towns and major cities, driving at dusk, dawn and night is a huge risk factor when it comes to animal strikes. But you already knew this, didn’t you? It’s not only because it’s much harder to see, but also because the wildlife is often more active at night.

In the outback, wandering stock tend to move onto the roads at night to sleep as when the temperature drops, the road is still warm. In addition, many animals are blinded by the car’s lights and as a result, either freeze or panic and run straight in front of your vehicle.

© pexels / mariana silvestre

2 – Get yourself some damn good lights for your vehicle

The reality is that sometimes, driving at dusk, dawn and night is unavoidable so make sure you have a really good set of driving lights. The ones that come standard with your vehicle often don’t cut it.

Check out the Sentinel Elite lights from Lazer Lamps. A video has been provided below to show you exactly how much difference these set of lights will make. The Sentinel Elite looks great with sleek black internals, but more importantly, it’s a top performer with a combination of 32 high-power LEDs. Lazer Lamps are a quality product and the Sentinel Elite is backed with a 5-year warranty.

For those who like to get into the nitty gritty details, these babies emit 15,232 raw lumens, delivering 1 lux to 742m. However, it’s in the spread of light that the Sentinel really stands out, with a 52-degree horizontal spread of light, and visibility at the sides of the road/track in the mid to long range.  Colour temperature is easy on the eye at 5000K.

3 – Remember that many animals travel in herds and packs

So you saw the first kangaroo and phew, Skippy made it across just in time. However, there are now suddenly two more and you’ve got no time to avoid hitting it. Worse yet, it was a joey just following his mum. This is, unfortunately, usually how it happens.

Remember that many animals travel in herds and packs including kangaroos, brumbies, deer, camels and livestock. So if you manage to avoid the first one you saw, make sure to slow down or stop and keep your eyes peeled for more until you are sure the danger has passed.

animals
Brumbies in Central Australia © Jessica Palmer

4 – Anticipate what and where the animals are

On my first trip out to Central Australia, I came within about five inches of being taken out by a random camel who appeared from behind some shrubbery on a sand dune and loped across the track, the Mereenie Loop in this case, in front of me. Given the size of this beast, there is no doubt I would have come off second best had it not gained a little speed at the last second when it scooted in front.

The dumb part? It didn’t occur to me that there would even be a camel on the track because I didn’t do any research on what animals to expect whatsoever. I know, I know, in hindsight, it should have been obvious.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, if you know what’s out there you can keep a more watchful eye out for it.

© pexels anthony

5 – Invest in a bull bar

Even though no one plans on hitting an animal and we do everything we can to avoid it, sometimes it’s unavoidable. The main purpose of a bull bar is to provide a layer of defence in a front-on collision. Both Ferdinand and Skippy will do a hell of a lot of damage to your front end and a bull bar will reduce the impact on your vehicle.

However, there is a lot to consider when buying a bull bar. Some look great but don’t offer a lot of protection and some offer outstanding protection but weigh too much. Others just don’t give you enough bang for your buck. You also need to consider whether you plan to mount accessories onto it like driving lights and winches. Sound a bit confusing? Check out this easy guide over at Unsealed4x4.  

6 – Take it slow

Just like you drive slower in built-up areas and around schools in town to avoid hitting people, you should also drive slower when you know there are animals around. If you’re on an outback road and there is a blind curve or crest, it really doesn’t hurt to slow down a little in case you need to slam on the brakes. If you see a bunch of kangaroos on the side of the road, it doesn’t hurt to limp along at a very slow speed until you’ve passed them.

The damage to your vehicle, or worse yet, yourself is much worse if you hit a large animal at 100km per hour as opposed to 40km per hour.

© pexels / freestocksorg

7 – Do away with distractions

Although it’s perfectly legal to use a hands-free GPS and virtually all new vehicles have one, they are a known distraction, diverting your eyes to the centre console or dash. The good thing about rural Australia is once you’re on an outback highway, there really aren’t many other roads to choose from so in a lot of cases, you can actually switch off the GPS and just follow the signs to the next town.

Interior of 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander © Mitsubishi

So there we have it, seven tips on how to avoid striking an animal and adding to the roadkill carnage, of which there is already way too much. My top recommendations? Invest in a decent set of driving lights like the Lazer Lamps mentioned earlier, get yourself a bull bar and take it easy, particularly on those rural roads.

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Jessica Palmer
Jessica Palmer

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  1. I mostly travel at around 80km/hr, 1) best fuel economy in my vehicle ( suzuki 2009 grand vitara towing a marlin escape camper) 2) this speed helps pulling up faster if animals or live stock are sighted ahead, 3) I’M on holiday, what’s the rush? – slower speed = less stress.
    At this speed I’m aware of other road users, especially road trains & semi’s, and give them a wide berth or I pull off the road to let them pass.