Words by Serika McBride
Photography by Offroad Images and the Marsupial Soceity of Australia

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If you are driving early morning or late afternoon outside of town or city limits, it’s almost guaranteed you will see kangaroos near the roadside.

At some point, one of these guys will decide that the other side of the road is where they want to be. That’s regardless of you being mere metres away doing 100km/h.

Sadly, our native wildlife has never developed road sense, so it’s up to us to be the ones using our heads. But, what can you do to avoid that horrible bang when a strike is inevitable?

Not much. Your main aim is to lessen the risk of accidental injury to you and your passengers. Apart from a few things, you can’t do much to avoid the incident once that roo hops out.

While it may sound harsh, forget about the animal itself and your lovely shiny duco.
If you hit a roo, you will incur damage, and how hard you hit will depend on your speed. The most important factor is occupant safety. Panels can be replaced, people can’t.

What about all the hoo-ha about bullbars? They are a bloody good idea – it’s that simple. Forget the all-important vehicle front-end damage protection for a moment and consider this. It could be the

difference between hitting a roo, or the roo sliding up your bonnet and hitting you.

Have a quick think about 60kg of solid animal coming through the windscreen at around 100km/h, and you will soon agree one is needed.

The Pajero copped a wallop, but luckily remained drivable

Keeping You Safe

There is one vitally important aspect of saving your life and the life of others in the event of an animal strike. DO NOT SWERVE! If you hit the roo, you are going to damage your car to some degree. This is unavoidable.

When you see a roo heading into your path, the best option is to simply reduce the speed of the impact. Use your brakes but make sure you hold the vehicle steady and straight.
It’s hard to get out of the habit of swerving to miss things. However, in this instance holding dead straight will help save your life regardless of what animal you hit.

If you swerve, you risk leaving the road completely and either hitting a tree or pole or even rolling your vehicle. A few dented panels are a far better option than serious injury or death.
Roos are unpredictable and will often do a 180° turn at the last moment.

Most of all, stay in your own lane if possible. When we pulled over after a recent roo strike, a local that saw it happen stopped to assist.

Apparently, he had been involved in a head-on collision on this same road with someone who swerved to miss a roo. It almost cost him and the other driver their lives, and the only bonus was the roo hopped away.

One of your best options is to avoid driving around dusk and dawn when they are most likely to be feeding near or crossing the road.

Delegate one of your passengers as a roo spotter. Remember, they need to be diligent as the roos sometimes aren’t that easy to spot until they raise their heads and move into your path.
The idea is to watch at least 50m either side of the road for their approach. Where you see one, often others will follow, so keep this in mind.

Here’s the general rule – if you see a roo, slow down regardless of where they are on the road. This is the best way to give both parties a chance to continue the journey.

It takes up to 20 hours a day to raise a joey

Joeys

More often than not, the impact will kill the roo, but you still have a responsibility to go back and check.

First, make sure you and your passengers are safe and that the vehicle is off the road. In the event of a fire or other risk, tend to your vehicle first.

If the roo is still alive, be extremely careful when approaching it. You may be there with good intentions, but as far as the animal is concerned, you are a predator after an easy meal.

The best thing to do is make a note of your location and try to call WIRES or the nearest National Parks and Wildlife centre.

If it was a female roo, she will probably have a joey. Even if there was a juvenile with the roo you hit (smaller than its mum but on the hop), there will most certainly be a brother or sister in the pouch.

You now have the responsibility of saving this orphan, and it is a pretty heartless person who will simply walk away and leave it to die. A few minutes of your time can mean that another one of our native species puts foot to earth for many years to come.

There is a method to removing a joey from the pouch without causing further injury.

Larger Joeys

1) If you don’t have a kit, grab a jumper or sloppy joe
2) Turn the jumper inside out and rub it up and down the mother’s body a few times. This will scent the jumper and lessen the stress to the joey
3) Tie it around your waist like an apron
4) Pull the mother’s legs back (outstretched) towards her tail. You may need help
5) Pull open the pouch as far as you can so you get a good look at the joey, especially if it’s only tiny (see below for unfurred joeys). Joeys curl up like a U-shape in the pouch, so you need to keep this in mind
6) DO NOT grab the tail or legs and try to pull them out
7) Gently insert two hands top and bottom, and feel for the shoulders with your top hand
8) Use your lower hand to gently grasp the joey’s feet and tail, and guide them out the pouch entrance
9) Move your hands outward, stretching the pouch open and lever the joey out with both hands. Ensure the head is lower than the shoulders
10) Quickly put the joey on its back into the sloppy joe, and bring it up to your chest making a pouch. You may need help here as an older joey will be active. They will hiss but will not bite you. However, do be careful of kicking feet
11) Hold the joey against your body for warmth, and fold the top of the shirt over its face as darkness will keep it quiet. Yes, they can smell like incontinent winos, but that is the least of your concerns