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Comment by evolve2k | Hacker News Reader

Having travelled much of Australia recently I'm aware of how many animals (especially kangaroos down here) are killed at night by standing on the road and not reacting in time to oncoming car headlights.

Wondering of there is any way this could help detract animals from standing on the road.

I've been playing with other ideas to deter them from being on the road, maybe playing with the smell or edging of the road but would love more ideas.

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Can't see any deterrent being feasible as what might deter a kangaroo would not necessarily work for slower animals like koalas, wombats or echidnas that have little chance evading a car.

What does help is having an elevated road surface with occasional tunnels to allow animals to cross under.

Not to nitpick, but wombats can actually run pretty fast when they want to - up to 40kph. And I reckon kangaroos, while fast, aren't very manoeuvrable; if they're on a line they tend to stay on that line, right into the path of the vehicle.

Koalas, though, geeze - they're slow, drunk usually, and don't give a damn. I almost hit one once, slamming on the brakes and almost going off the road, and the damn thing didn't react at all, just kept unconcernedly strolling across. Doubt anything can stop them except fences combined with safe crossings (tunnels, wildlife bridges).

Probably makes a wombat even more problematic if they decide to run back across the road. Just make sure the fence has a decent concrete footer - they're pretty unstoppable.

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