Watch out, wildlife about – tips for safer winter road trips

For us, winter calls for snuggly sleep-ins and lazy days indoors. But for our nocturnal animal friends, the arrival of shorter, darker days provides ideal conditions for increased play and activity. To keep them safe, we must take extra care on our roads.

In the lead up to the busy winter school holiday travel period, we’re helping you plan for safer road trips, with simple ways to keep you and our precious native wildlife out of harm’s way.

In 2024, NRMA Insurance received more than 12,100 claims* due to animal collisions. Animal related accidents spiked significantly during the cooler months, highlighting the increased risk during winter.

“Our claims data* shows there is a heightened risk of wildlife accidents on our roads during winter when animals are more active in the early morning and evening, which coincides with popular driving periods for many using our roads”, said NRMA Insurance Executive Manager David Wilkes.

Wildlife collisions can be extremely dangerous for drivers and can cause significant accidents. 

How drivers react to an animal on the road can help reduce the risk of an accident, save lives and protect our wildlife. Here are some simple precautions you can take: 

• Avoid wildlife active periods: if you can, avoid driving at dawn, dusk, or night-time as this is usually when animals are most active, and lack of light makes it more difficult to see them. 

• Don’t drive under fatigue: being alert when driving is imperative. It’s important to have a good night’s sleep before a long drive and schedule regular breaks, ideally for 15-minutes, every two hours.  

• Slow down, but don’t swerve: if you see an animal on the road while driving, try to slow down but don’t swerve to avoid it, as you may run the risk of colliding with another car or running off the road.

• Pay attention to signs: highly populated wildlife areas are usually clearly signed. When you notice these signs, be prepared to slow down or stop if you need to give way to animals crossing the road. 

• Call for assistance: if you hit an animal, and if it is safe to do so, check the animal’s welfare and call your local wildlife rescue service for guidance.

Not sure what areas to look out for? Below, we’ve created a map of national animal collision hotspots:

As the map highlights, our claims data* revealed that Dubbo, Goulburn and Canberra continue to be the most high-risk areas for animal collisions in New South Wales and the ACT.

In Queensland, Goondiwindi, Charters Towers and St George reported the most incidents. The worst areas for wildlife collisions in South Australia were Hawker, Mount Gambier, Port Augusta and McLaren Vale. Meanwhile, Western Australia’s hotspots were Collie, Margaret River, and Busselton.

So, if you’re driving in these areas, be sure to take extra caution on the road and be on the look out for wildlife.

All content on the NRMA Insurance Blog is intended to be general in nature and does not constitute and is not intended to be professional advice.