Wednesday, May 01, 2013 at 18:50
It's been very dry in much of NSW and the animals are starting to move around. Between Dubbo and
Lithgow there are dead 'roos (also foxes, deer and the odd pig or wombat) every few hundred meters. If you always stop
well before dusk you are normally safe*, but very few people can be 100% certain that they will never be delayed and need to drive in to the night. It is very rare for people who live out here to fit plastic bars, and with very good reason..... We wouldn't even buy a vehicle that didn't have a steel bar available.
The guy who rents my old workers cottage hit two 'roos in his first two weeks up here (he moved up from
Wollongong). Luckily he already had a good bar but he very quickly added some extra spotlights!
It is also wise to note that the biggest danger is the accident caused by swerving to avoid the animal. Having a steel bar means that you can simply "take the hit", rather than swerving, losing control and hitting a tree or oncoming vehicle.
*Last year I almost hit a large Fallow buck in the middle of the afternoon. He came out of a gully by the side of the road, dragging a huge amount of grass on his antlers, straight in front of me. I missed him, but his trail of grass actually went over the bonnet.
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