Shoo Roo, Do They Work?

[Konrad]

I live in brisbane but gotta work in western qld (emerald) for three weeks. I was thinking of fitting some of those ultrasonic whistle things commonly called 'roo shoo' to my skyline to hopefully reduce the chance of hitting wildlife (can you imagine what a red would do do a fibreglass front bar and intercooler ) does anyone have any experience with these?? What are your opinions??

[mad082]

my only concern is that if a roo is sitting at the side of the road and you come driving along with one of these things, instead of jumping off in the direction he was sitting he jumps accross the road to get away from the sound. i don't think there is any really way to avoid hitting a roo, other than to have huge spot lights that shine like daylight so you can see everything on the side of the road to make sure if you do see a roo you have time to stop.

[VB-]

get a rental car for 3 weeks... or a really big bullbar? a rental might be expensive, but just condier it. how much are those roo things anyway? i think i saw RACV were renting echos for like $38 a day, about 800 for 3 weeks....

are u going to stay there while uw ork, or make the trek every day? might be worth usin public transport?

PS - just rememebr rent a bomb or whatever, its like $10 a day. just drive (ie thrash) one of those bombs for 3 weeks

Edited July 15, 2006 by VB-

[RANDY]

This could earn me some forum-flaming but.... drive slower? ;op

As for the roo device, I know someone who has electronic ones on the front of his car. They're ultrasonic, and apparently they DO scare cats away... I can't confirm this personally, but i'd suspect that cats would run from cars regardless.

Edited July 15, 2006 by RANDY

[Konrad]

I looked into these further, apparently they DO work but are obviously not 100% effective, eg: if the roo is coming from a bad angle they still can effectivley 't bone' your car... its not like they stop look listen before crossing the highway..

They dont actually scare the wildlife away but merely make it aware of your cars presence earlier, so they are less likely to freak and run straight toward you. Most roos will just freeze and look at you, its still your job to avoid it lol (although i'm only going on what others have said on the net).

No flaming for suggesting to drive slower- no way would i be speeding anyway, coilovers + car swollowing pot holes are never a good combination..

Public transport?? Emerald is not a big town, i doubt they would have anything like that..

Anyway i've got bigger concerns, wont be taking the car after all, i went to buy some oil to do a service, then got a flat rear tyre, took it to bob janes who are now insisting both my rear tyres are 'shagged'- really worn on the inside edge, and were too dangerous!! Hence i've been forced to get some tyres, puncture repair, wheel align etc.. which has added up to the princely sum of $600 (and yes they are cheap ass nexxen tyres too, but 18's). So i've just re-booked my flight up there, the line will be staying at home

Assuming i had enough time to put the oil in and get it ready AND get enough sleep for a 12hr drive tonight, i no longer have the savings to cover if anything went majorly wrong on the drive up there (eg: major breakdown).

Needless to say i thought my tyres were fine but i admit its been a while since ive been under the rear of the car (was the very inside edge that was worn) i will demand to see the condition of my old ones before forking out my cash!!

[NVMYTG]

roo's hate the sound of a turbo anyways and if you have a big nasty BOV it scares them and they piss of really quickly lol horse's hate BOV's too

[Konrad]

lol never thought of that..

although technically cruising at 100kph you're barely boosting and not lifting off throttle so prob would have little effect, unless you had a huge turbo or something..

[GTR32GUS]

If u are doing all your driving during the day dont worry about it , roos only move around at night and early morning

Edited July 15, 2006 by GTR32GUS

[n15m0]

jst make sure they are ADR approved otherwise u'll get defected :laughing-smiley-014:

[Busky2k]

Although it sounds a bit silly, driving with high beams can dazzle oncoming roos and make them jumpin, so its kinda a lose loose situation oo.

[JaseR33]

Are you serious about Bob Jane "forcing" you to get tyres or did they advise new tyres???

Just interested in that statement...especially if they really did force you

[Konrad]

When i said forced i meant that i was told my tyres were useless, so i had to buy replacements.. its not like they got me in a headlock or something lol, they said the tyres were unsafe and that they wouldn't survive a few 100kms more driving round town yet alone a 2000km round trip to emerald and back, hence i said to go ahead and replace them. I was very sceptical as far as i knew the outer edge of the tyres had at least 60% wear, and i never noticed a problem with the way the car drove either.

went and had a look at them and they were right, the inside shoulder was worn to the shiznit on both sides, but the passengers side was especially bad, somehow it was falling apart from the INSIDE with chunks of rubber INSIDE the tyre!!, the whole inner shoulder was thin as, and easliy pliable.

Probably what caused it to go flat, if this had not happened today I would have been happily travelling at 100+kph on my way to emerald and i dont wanna know what would have happened if the tyres had let go at that speed Likely they would have had to cut me out of the car if theyre was anything worth saving

I didn't realise the wear on the tyre as i dont routinely climb under the rear of the car (lets face it they'res not much to do under there lol), plus with my bodykit and rideheight its hard to notice that sort of wear on the tyre if you're doing other things to the car. It drove fine, which i know sounds surprising, but i dont hammer my car everyday, but the times i did it seemed to have the 'normal' amount of rear tyre grip etc... and drove as usual.

Thinking it was down to a incredibly dodgy wheel alignment, the last place i took it to i knew it wasn't right so i took it back, they had the car for an hour and still didn't fix a dodgy job!! Today when they re did it they said alignment was waaay out. Either that or maybe my hicas has somehow caused this...

You would not believe how many kms ive travelled in this car, i'd say at least 2000km in the last month. I encourage everyone to pay more attention to their tyres when they are planning a long trip!! I'm counting myself lucky for sure.

[racsov500]

if you do fit one, please have a switch on it so you can turn it off. unlilke the hundereds of spanner soccer mums driving kitted out prados with gear theyll never use. FCUK

[Kozeyekan]

Do Shoo roos work.

In a word. No.

Explanation: I used to live in SW NSW. Loads of Roos, especially in the dry seasons, when they'd come to the roadside to eat the grass growing there from runoff of whatever rains were coming, or dew that rolled off the road.

The humble Kangaroo is a stupid animal, and is just as likely to go "Hey, that sounds interesting, I'll take a close look' as the mack truck bears down on it as it is to jump away.

You'd be better of using a Horn, driving during the day and paying a lot of attention, which means changing drivers every couple of hours. It's better than tanking a roo doing 100. (= dead roo and dead you)

The funny part is, now that I live in Melbourne, I went to a 'fine dining' restaurant a few weekends ago, and they had roo on the menu. Why anyone would eat that is beyond me. The people that kill them aren't farmers, or even butchers, they're jimbob and his twelve sons who blast away at them, then hang up their ring worm infested, blow fly ridden, and tape worm penetrated carcasses up to bleed. Then they take them back to town. 4 hours later.

Roo's aren't animals I'd eat. And I'd eat pretty much anything.

[Shell]

well. that's put me off ever trying kangaroo

as for hitting them, i finish late and see them a bit... i usually drive a little faster and by the time they pop their head up and realise there's a car i've already hammered past. haha probably not the best idea though

i have hit one once, but it was hopping out of the bush minding it's own business - it had nothing to do with the car startling it.

[grigor]

Anyone who does loads of driving knows the only way to approach roos is with a steady foot, definately no BOV crap.

Roos are so used to vehicle noise that they'll stand their ground UNLESS you back off. That's the minute they panic and go anywhere. It takes real nerve to see a heap of roos and still maintain your speed but if you do, they'll just watch you go by and keep eating.

Try it some time, in someone else's car if you have doubts.

[R33S2]

3 of the Roo's ive hit had a strange obsession with my headlight, ie they stuck thier head into it.

A tip I got from a farmer is use your emergency flashers.

[dangerous_daveo]

The few times I have come across them I've had my highbeams on. They have just staired and looked, did not move one inch. So my thinking is, if you know they arent going to move, you can go the other side of the road and just go around them.

Thats just going by my experiences tho.

[Kozeyekan]

The few times I have come across them I've had my highbeams on. They have just staired and looked, did not move one inch. So my thinking is, if you know they arent going to move, you can go the other side of the road and just go around them.

Thats just going by my experiences tho.

They get dazzled by the headlights. If you keep the headlights on them, they'll stay there (that's how the shooters usually get them, they dazzle them with a spotty, and put a bullet into their heads)

The problem with applying that to the road is that you have to keep the lights exactly in their eyes. Which means that as soon as you get within 10 metres, they come out of the cone of illumination, and decide to move, in any direction that takes their fancy, but they often double and triple back. Hit them at less than 40 km/hr and the roo will hop away while you weep and pick up peices of your front assembly.

I've heard of the hazard light's being used though. Good idea.

The best idea: PAY F@#KING ATTENTION. keep aware. It's hard on long trips, you go into 'the zone' probably have one hand on the wheel and decide to change CD's. all stuff you've done a million times before, but this once, a roo decides to follow that chicken and cross the road, you swerve and hit it anyway, now in deep crap.

It's hard to pay attention for long periods. For everyone.

(But Koz, I'm an exception, I have an IQ of 190, am a neurosurgeon and am only 20!

Yes, that includes you little grasshopper. You'll be able to do it many many times, provided an obstacle doesn't present itself during one of your lapses of concentration.

But Koz, I've driven that road in my car thousands of times.

Yes grasshopper, but it's like driving in the city. You must assume that every car has a kid behind it, and in the scrub that every bush may have a Roo, or English backpacker ready to cross the road. This takes concentration, so take breaks often.

Ah Koz, what would you know?

More than I want to.)

[Quinny]

As mentioned, they are attracted/dazzled by the light. One method you can use, but it takes balls to do on a dark country road, is if you see a roo on the road, turn your lights off for a second, when you turn them back on the roo *should* be gone. I have seen someone do this before, and the roo got out of the way as soon as the lights got turned off, but I have never tried it myself.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for what happens if you try this. Although I have seen it work before, it is no guarantee that it will work every time.