Wild Strike!

Some time back, I wrote an article on how to respond to an encounter with an animal while in the bush. Of course, not all encounters are on foot, and a good number of accidents are caused by hitting an animal while you are driving – particularly at night. That’s one of the reasons that we fit a bull bar, and fender-protectors over the wheel arches. Even at relatively slow speeds, an impact with an animal can prove costly, or even potentially life-threatening for the vehicle occupants.

It is often thought that most accidents are caused either by running head-on into an animal, or by its charging you - like a bull charging a red flag. I am not sure what the statistics are; but, from my experience, an animal is more than likely to come flying out of the bush and hit you broadside. Unless, of course, it’s standing in the middle of the road during the hours of darkness, which many animals choose to do.

In two scary instances (one in a 4x4 and another