Road Kill

[StinkyPete]

I'm keen to test my post-chemo body and mind, as well as the new bike, with an Iron Butt ride.   However, I am alarmed by the amount of road kill that I'm seeing right across the country, and any IBA ride needs to incorporate around six hours of night riding.  I had a very close call on a recent night run to Victor Harbor to test the allignment of my spotties that has left me a bit "roo shy".   I had dipped my lights for on-coming traffic and almost hit a roo that suddenly materialized on my left, on the road and right next to the bike.   If I put my hand out, I could have slapped him and luckily he was not moving.   Glare from the approaching cars, and my low beams left me blind at a critical moment.

[ppopeye]

I know what you are feeling. I recently did a day trip to Bendigo and came back on the Calder Freeway at night.
There are not many animals on the freeway due to fences. We were travelling in the Cruza and saw a car on the left with hazards on so as usual I pulled into the right lane as there was not much traffic around. Like Pete I was using low beam and hit a wombat already dead in the centre of the right lane. Didn’t see it till I was right on it. No damage done but I was thinking if I had have been on the ST. We didnt stop but saw a small white car with front damge just down the road and wondered if it had
 Hit the wombat.
I dont ride Ruby at night generally and I dont think I will change my thinking.


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[Brock]

Pete,

You need to take it easy and get used to riding again. It will take a little while to get the feel, get into the flow and relax on the bike. At the moment, you will be feeling the natural anxiety that is part of being on a bike, it will all come back soon enough.
 

[StinkyPete]

Thanks Brock.  I've spent plenty of time in the saddle since finishng chemo and am generally pretty comfortable and confident on the bike, but I've lost some strength which I'm working hard to get back.  However, I am spooked at the amount of road kill and the near miss, and as a consequence have lost some of my "bulletproof" confidence to ride at night.

I'm curious to hear if any other LRD's have noticed an increase in the number of roos and road kill due to the drought.

[Biggles]

I did an FR12Gold over the weekend out to Wandoan and home through Biloela.  There were only about 2 hours in the dark in roo territory (I timed it to do most of the night riding on the highway). Oddly, despite the reports and pix of plagues of roos, I saw no live ones and maybe 50 carcasses all day.  It all comes down to the area you're travelling through.  Out near Broken Hill I hear they're like fleas on a camp dog but in drought-stricken central QLD there's nowhere near as many.

[Bodø]

I am very reluctant to ride in the country in the dark for this very reason. 

[West Aussie Glen]

If you ride in the country at night time the reality is it is not a question of if but when you will hit a kangaroo or a kangaroo will hit you.
Even riding in the daytime there is a risk.
On my recent ride to MacKay I saw the normal amount of road kill both ways across the Nullarbor, lots of road kill around Broken Hill/Cobar also too many live ones to be very comfortable. Also saw lots of goats and emus. You realize that if you didn't see any you simply weren't looking hard enough. Emus worry me as much or more than roos for day riding.
I have hit 3 roos in a car, 2 were in the day and have several near misses both day and night.
When I lived in the Pilbara at night time I drove with 2 Super Oscar Long Range lights and 2 Super Oscar Spread beams and still reduced my speed to about 80 kph.
I have come to the conclusion that while great lights help us they simply confuse roos.
Some where between Three Ways and Katherine about 11 am as a roo passed in front of us on the bike I am fairly sure we actually ran over its tail.
Riding my second GL1500 across the Hay Plain with 2 roo whistles I basically had to stop to wait for a roo to move off the road. Returning from over east last a couple of years ago I left Eucla about 7:00 with a slow start, at Cocklebiddy a Holden Ute pulled in having hit a roo mid leap near Mundrabilla and it almost ended up going through the windscreen. The same trip last year saw me having to almost stop to dodge the roos at the foot of Madura Pass, 200 kms after a slow 7:00 start.
 
Having spent 18 years working in the oil and gas industry safety was rammed down our throats with ALARP being a major acronym. As Low As Reasonably Practical. I don't think riding a bike in the country at night fits is ALARP.

Pete a few years ago I very narrowly missed hitting a big roo at the top of the hill just north of Victor. There is a large family of roos who live next to the Victor by pass road and Steve has hit one of those.

Unlike most members who watch our members do long rides which include night time riding and congratulation them I simply follow the threads and am happy to know they have arrived in one piece.
 
Pessimist, no, realistic, yes

[alans1100]

During our little ride on Sunday I lost count of the number of dead roos both beside and on the road and add to that a few stray sheep as well.

Not much of an issue during the day but at night not easy to see as we tend to look beside the road for the live stuff and not on the road for the dead stuff.

Around here there's not a lot of night traffic and I will still ride when dark (early mornings or late evenings) if I need to.



 

[West Aussie Glen]

Pete,

You need to take it easy and get used to riding again. It will take a little while to get the feel, get into the flow and relax on the bike. At the moment, you will be feeling the natural anxiety that is part of being on a bike, it will all come back soon enough.
 

Sorry Brock but I think you may be a little off track here, relax at night time when riding in the country!!!!!!!

[alans1100]

When I lived in the Pilbara at night time I drove with 2 Super Oscar Long Range lights and 2 Super Oscar Spread beams and still reduced my speed to about 80 kph.

Used to get a few between Port Hedland and Karratha at night when we were there but only in ones and twos - in some places cattle were more of an issue. Wasn't unusual at night to see a roo standing in the middle of the road at Karratha either.

I left Eucla about 7:00 with a slow start, at Cocklebiddy a Holden Ute pulled in having hit a roo mid leap near Mundrabilla and it almost ended up going through the windscreen. The same trip last year saw me having to almost stop to dodge the roos at the foot of Madura Pass, 200 kms after a slow 7:00 start.

On the return trip from Perth after picking up the 1300 I had hardly any wildlife at night between Border Village and Nullarbor which I put down to the rainfall a day or two before but within 20 km from home it's everywhere.

[West Aussie Glen]

When I lived in the Pilbara at night time I drove with 2 Super Oscar Long Range lights and 2 Super Oscar Spread beams and still reduced my speed to about 80 kph.

Used to get a few between Port Hedland and Karratha at night when we were there but only in ones and twos - in some places cattle were more of an issue. Wasn't unusual at night to see a roo standing in the middle of the road at Karratha either.

After a shopping trip from Newman to Perth we hit a roo some where near Mt Magnet about 2 pm. Roo bar saved the radiator and we managed to continue driving.

[ppopeye]

As an aside the worst road kill area was about a year ago between Canberra and Cooma. About 10 or more per km. Unreal.


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[Brock]

relax at night time when riding in the country!!!!!!!

Not that so much Glen, as being relaxed when riding. Being tense is very tiring, and if something occurs then reactions can be slower.

I generally try to be relaxed when driving or riding, but not to the point of going to sleep but.

[Gadget]

Being a little roo shy at night isn't a bad thing. Relaxed body, but alert eyes and mind. Continuously scanning up and down each side of the road help you see what your you would otherwise miss. Scanning from close to distance and back again.
Staring into the distance is where you lose the targets.

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[Biggles]

Being a little roo shy at night isn't a bad thing. Relaxed body, but alert eyes and mind. Continuously scanning up and down each side of the road help you see what your you would otherwise miss. Scanning from close to distance and back again.
Staring into the distance is where you lose the targets.

I agree, and do that.  The one collision I've had with a roo was late at night when four of them came bounding out from my left converging at a shallow angle. The lead one bounced off my left panel and they all veered away to the left.  No amount of scanning protects you from that.
There's no denying the hazard.  I conduct my own ARARP by aiming to be on busy major roads at night as far as possible, running lights as bright as possible (being aware of the possibility the dazzle effect is counter-productive), running roo whistles (I know, everyone says they don't work) and a new device/technique- a reversing horn.  Add foot over brake and fingers on the front brake and hyper-alertness.  You don't want to have to do the last three for very long- it's quite tiring.