Avoiding Wildlife

I've bought a pair of roo sirens, the guy in the store reckoned they were pretty effective and at $25 I couldn't give a hoot so I thought I'd grab them.

However, the thought occurs that the guy probably hasn't been anywhere that doesn't have asphalt, street lights and guttering.

So, I've got this nice Nissan steel bullbar which should be decent protection from roos, but if I can avoid smacking into them I'd count that as a bonus.

So, are these decent to use? Do they work? I've stuck one out the window at 80km/h and the damn thing whistles its head off. I'm not sure I want to draw that much attention to myself.

That's the whole idea of them.

Okay, but does that make them go away or crowd in closer to look at who the noisy idiot is?

The noise is supposed to make them aware of your presence, then they should do what comes naturally, bugger off. That's what I've been led to believe anyway.

My old man had a set of those on his Pathy a few years back. You don't hear the whistle from the bullbar because they are too far away and when your hooting down the road no one else is around to here them either.

Do they work? well that probably like asking does the DPF work (sorry I couldn't think of anything else). Our old place was heavy density bush, trees either side of the road for the whole trip type bush and traveling at dusk and dawn was dangerous, pitch black never seemed so bad even thought the risk was still there.

We'd see plenty of roos every trip and anyone driving at more than 70ks at night and not watching the sides of the road for wildlife was just asking for trouble. The old man hit a roo one morning on his way home from work, first thing he did when he got the car back from the panel beaters was put those roo whistles on and while he saw roos on the side of the road none were ever on the road. If that was because of the whistles it was the best $25 ever spent, but realistically it could have been any number of reasons.

My theory is still that if you live in areas where wildlife is on the road then who knows $25 might just make a difference. I've known guys who spent hundreds on the electronic shoo roos and still written off cars so anything is possible really.

Oh yeah and also...

Those things are suppose to be good for all wildlife not just roos, the high pitch whistle is suppose to scare them away from the noise not attract them too it.

When they first came out it was also recommended that they be installed as high as possible on the vehicle and on the second Pathy the old man had he had them mounted on the roof rack mounts and he still didn't hear them whistle as he was driving so unless they have changed you should be right sticking them just about anywhere but the door pillar.

All I know is that for about a year I was travelling the Tanami on a regular basis at dawn and dusk with a pair of the cheap ones from supercheap auto. Not once did I hit a roo and with the spotties on I coud see them in the distance either hopping away or watching me go past. I dont really know if they work or not, I just know that I have never met anybody who has hit a roo with them on.

There a load of SHIT!
How do i know cos i had a pair and they did fu*k all, i was at the grampians with a long stretch of straight road ahead of me and in the distance about a kay away just at dusk i could see a group of about 4 or 5 roos, i was doing 100 kays an hour heading towards em and my old man and father in law go 'start slowing down or ul hit the roos' i said 'nah not gona happen i got roo sho on the front' what do ya know, i came to a standstill about 20m away from them and had to use the horn to shu em of the road.
As soon as we finished hunting and came back to the cabin i ripped them of the front of the car and threw em in the campfire.
UNLESS i came across the worlds (or Australias)dumbest or deafest or blindest kangaroos.

For better or for worse, I've gone and put them on now.

SOLID D22 said:

There a load of SHIT!
How do i know cos i had a pair and they did fu*k all, i was at the grampians with a long stretch of straight road ahead of me and in the distance about a kay away just at dusk i could see a group of about 4 or 5 roos, i was doing 100 kays an hour heading towards em and my old man and father in law go 'start slowing down or ul hit the roos' i said 'nah not gona happen i got roo sho on the front' what do ya know, i came to a standstill about 20m away from them and had to use the horn to shu em of the road.
As soon as we finished hunting and came back to the cabin i ripped them of the front of the car and threw em in the campfire.
UNLESS i came across the worlds (or Australias)dumbest or deafest or blindest kangaroos.

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Did you have your headlights on Highbeam ?

Dimming the headlights is the most effective technique I've seen to help avoid wildlife. Obviously driving to suit conditions is a must.

Even turning all lights off is an option I've used before in some very close calls, I'd never recommend this in an urban scenario, but in the country it works well for alot of people.

Cheers,
James.

Snowy_07 said:

Did you have your headlights on Highbeam ?

Dimming the headlights is the most effective technique I've seen to help avoid wildlife. Obviously driving to suit conditions is a must.

Even turning all lights off is an option I've used before in some very close calls, I'd never recommend this in an urban scenario, but in the country it works well for alot of people.

Cheers,
James.

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We used to do the same thing, drive by parking lights and a full moon and a speed that isn't going to kill everyone. All wildlife are stunned by the bright lights not by the noise. In some cases the stun of the lights will stop them from running from any noise.

For $25 they still beat those electronic ones and have about as much guarantee

I had roo whistles on mine when I first bought it and in the short time before I took them off, managed to give one roo a headache.

Dunno if they work or not, but I haven't come near any roos since I took them off either.

Maybe someone needs to take just one off their vehicle and run around the bush for a while and see how many roos they hit with each side.

I know the roos down at Loch Sport were never smart enough to get out of the way of bread trucks doing 100kph so I'm not convinced they work but I'm also not convinced they don't. I also know our panel beaters made a lot of money out of re bending bullbars and straightening panel work.

Haha,

Roo Shoos? I had them on my Patrol and I never hit a roo, so obviously they work like a charm LOL.

I had them on my last Nav and they don't work on Cows, thats a fact.

I never had them on my big truck and I snotted a roo good on the last trip back from up north.

All of this is just coincidence, the roo shoos don't work. Roo's are just as likely to jump into the path of the car as to jump away with or without the shoos.

Drive sensibly at Dusk and wear a steel bullbar on your car.

Good Luck,

DJ

I cant remember if i had high beams on or not but headlights were definately on, i have had a few close calls with roos but never actually hit one, wher i come back from my olds farm near daylesford i have to travel through a bit of rough road through wombat state forest and there is no chance of driving through there without headlights, the lightforce help heaps by lighting the road well up.
On another trip i done years back now with a few mates we done a night run at Toolangi was some serious fun 4wd at night, when we finished and were heading of home there was a convoy of 6 cars the first cb'd all saying watch out for the wombat on the left, all in front of me swerved to miss it and BANG i drove straight over the poor bugger with both left wheels, mind you i was in the right lane trying to avoid it no where near the left lane, anyway i though i stuffed my alloys and for sure the steering with the stories you hear of hitting wombats, but nothing happened to my car at least but the wombat came of worse for wear and got killed instantly.

Hey Solid D22 you must have come across the same deaf roos I came across down in Talbingo. These guys would just sit there as if asking waht the hell do you think your doing on our road. A quick blast of the horns soon sorted them out.

Not sure if these work or not cause I don't use them but anything that might help is worth every cent in my eyes. $25 spent is alot cheaper than a navara without a front end.....

I ran over a dead roo on the South Gippy highway heading east out of Wonthaggi (for those who know it) at sun rise in the truck a few years back. Because of the rise in the road and the glare I didn't even see it, took me about 3ks before I got the guilt's up wondering what the hell it was and turned around, gotta say it was the most relieved I've ever been to hit a roo.

It really doesn't matter what vehicle you're in and how good the bullbar hitting cows is never good, cow shit sticks to everything. It's also worth knowing that kangaroos cant jump more than 90 degrees either way and definitely can't jump backwards so that if you come up on a group that are crossing the road the main ones to concentrate on are the ones facing the road not the ones with the backs to the road.

Although I've never done it so have no personal experience, over the years I have received numerous warnings about hitting roadkill. Apparently leg bones are the worst to have pass through the tread of your tyre(s). It might not be a pleasant thing to think about, but it's no doubt happened, where someone's had to use some tools to extract the lucky roo's leg from his tyre, then wonder how he's going to repair the large gash in the tyre on the side of the road.

Surely there's some limit to the size hole you're allowed to mend?

Not to mention that hitting fresh road kill is likely to splatter you own vehicle in blood and guts. It's bad enough washing your own road kill off vehicles without having to do someone elses too.

If you believe some of the hype A Current Affair show (and I know we all believe everything they tell us) you can't fix any tyre and have it remain safe. Once the wall of the tyre has gone once I wouldn't be that willing to trust it with a patch for too long. Then again maybe if they made space saver wheels for Nav's I'd be willing to sew the hole in my tyre up