What to do if you hit a roo: ABC reveals surprising advice for drivers

Do you know what to do if you hit a kangaroo with your vehicle? 

Many people might think that the most socially responsible thing to do – assuming the driver and their car are not badly damaged – would be the move the kangaroo from the road so others can avoid hitting its body. But emergency services pros have warned drivers that in fact, they should not try to do so.

A woman in Canberra was hit by a car on Wednesday night after she hit a kangaroo, then left her car to move the animal off the road. Cameron Beresford of the ACT Emergency Services Agency told ABC Radio Canberra that people must remember that their own personal safety should be their foremost concern.

“Don’t try to move it off the road yourself, call city services and they’ll do it for you,” Beresford said.

As most Aussies know, a large male kangaroo can stand as tall as 182 centimetres (6 foot) and weigh up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds), so can do considerable damage to a car and its occupants.

Just in April, a motorcyclist in Penrith in Sydney’s west was killed after colliding with a kangaroo, while in 2013 a six-year-old girl was killed after her parent’s car hit a kangaroo, which smashed through the front windscreen and hit the child before going through the rear windscreen.

The insurer Allianz says thousands of collisions between animals and vehicles happen every year in Australia, with the majority involving kangaroos and wallabies. In New South Wales, one in five crashes on rural roads involved an animal, while many of Australia’s major highways and roads are unfenced. 

“A high speed collision with an animal may cause the loss of control of your vehicle, major vehicle damage, serious personal injury or even death to car passengers and the animal,” Allianz cautions. “There is a higher risk of contact with an animal at dawn and dusk, when visibility on the roads is decreased and when animals tend to be more active.”

The insurer does advise stopping the vehicle to assist the animal if this can be done safely, and recommends calling the local or state wildlife rescue group for assistance.

WIRES Wildlife Rescue runs a hotline in NSW on 1300 094 737, Wildcare in Queensland is available on (07) 5527 2444, Wildlife Victoria is on (03) 8400 7300, Wildcare in Western Australia is on (04) 9474 9055, the Wildlife Rescue Service in Tasmania is on 0447 264 625, ACT Wildlife is on 0432 300 033 (with a special number for injured kangaroos – 13 22 81) and in the Northern Territory, phone Wildcare NT on (08) 898 6121.

Have you ever hit a kangaroo or another native animal in your car? How did you react?