Well, if you travel as many kilometers as we do, I suppose it’s inevitable.
Recently, we were heading to Mildura to attend the Australian Bowhunters Association’s National Safari. It’s too far to drive (responsibly) in one jump, so we were headed to Collingullie Pub - which has great food courtesy of their onsite chef, and free camping out back!
Ten kilometres from our over-nighter, and travelling at 100km/h on a sweeping bend at dusk (with some dimwit tailgating us), an Eastern Grey Buck Kangaroo was standing in the middle of our lane.
Now, 5-6% of all road fatalities across Australia can be attributed to ‘animal strike’. However, the majority of these deaths are not a result of the driver hitting the animal. Rather, it’s a consequence of swerving to avoid the furry roadblock and hitting a bloody big roadside gum tree instead.
In our instance, a quick double-pump of the brakes to slow us down a little - and to warn the driver behind that something was awry - took 10km off our speed. Holding the line, the animal now took-off in front of us. Our response was to point the vehicle into the animal, a reaction that had a couple of effects. Firstly it ensured that the animal hit the centre of the bulbar in order to minimise damage. Secondly, the slight sway of the vehicle lowered the off-side bumper and thereby lifted the oncoming side ever-so lightly. Combined, it enabled the animal to continue on its path - be that under our vehicle, instead of onto the bonnet.
Now, our rig has been set-up for this eventuality. A Toyota bulbar, upgraded DBA brake rotors and Bendix 4WD pads, ARB under-vehicle protection with a full length bash plate, and a Redarc Tow Pro to help engage the electric brakes of the camper in tow. Not to mention the BFG AT KO2 Tyres and Oztec Suspension upgrade. Added to this, we were (as our American cousins call it) ‘packed for bear’. Meaning that the Hilux was full, and we were towing our camper.
While we remained under our Gross Combined Mass (GVM + GTM) of 4800kg by a couple of hundred, it was a fair amount of Force (and not the Luke Skywalker kind!) to bear down on an animal that was insistent on sharing our lane. Now, a Buck Eastern Grey weighs in at around 80 – 90kg and it has ten times the muscle mass of a human. Applying some High School science, we struck the animal with an average impact force of 6250kn (which feels like being hit with a mass of 637 tonnes). That equates to 100 African elephants sitting on you at the same time.
All in all, that’s a lot of force to soak-up. So, the damage? Kangaroo = dead, Hilux = one broken indicator cover and one shattered bulb. Without a bulbar, the crumple zones would have written-off the vehicle and we would have had a longer stay at Collingullie pub than we’d planned (or worse).
The lesson? If you’re planning to venture into any part of Australia, have a purpose-designed bulbar, conduct driver training, plan for the worst … and you might walk away from it. Don’t plan, and your chances of survival are lower.
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