As Aussie says it's a preference. I don't care what's in the middle of the road 200m in front of me because chances are by the time I get to it it wont be there, I care about what's lurking on the shoulder or beyond because they are the things that are more likely to come at me.
When driving at night both my lights are focused on the outer road edge and the splash goes into the srcub and in the center the splash from each just touches. I don't focus on the white line I focus on the edges of the road, scanning across the road from side to side shows me what I need to know in the middle while the side to side glances allow me to pick up the glimmer of eyes in the scrub. Many animals blend into their surroundings at night, even more so when lights are shinned on them so looking for the glimmer of eyes instead of trying to turn night into day with the brightest lights in the world has saved my arse more times than I can count but living in the bush it's inevitable that your going to hit something at some time.
When driving at night the obvious thing to consider is speed and just what is safe, it's not about how safe the road is it's about how quickly you can stop to avoid something, knowing the way animals move is a big advantage but it doesn't change the fact that at 100kph in the darkness a wombat shooting out of the scrub can easily launch you into the bush where as at 80kph it might give you enough distance to swerve or brake. I've bounced hundreds of different animals from owls to wombats to cows to 8 foot roos off the front of the truck and it makes no difference what you hit them with something is going to give, steel, alloy, tin everything bends when something big is hit and the only way to minimise the damage is to avoid the hit and slowing down even 20kph makes a huge difference. But being prepared for what is going to be on the road rather than what is on the road makes even more difference.
