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The Importance of Saving Wildlife and Your Car Windscreen

Ever since COVID-19 arrived in Australia, you may have found yourself driving around our beautiful country a lot, lot more.  Whether it be on holiday, traveling for business or traveling between homes, Australian’s are traveling within their own country more than they ever have before.  Bookings in South Australian campsites alone increased by 80 per-cent in December 2020 compared to the year before.  One thing that you might not expect when planning your next drive is the importance of your car windscreen and how much a windscreen replacement cost can be.  It can ruin your drive.  Stones and debris can damage your windscreen, however, what is going to do the most damage is Australia’s vastly unique wildlife.  If you manage to avoid hitting these extraordinary critters, your car windscreen and the animals will be thanking you for it. 

The Wildlife 

Australia’s wildlife is some of the most unique and loved wildlife in the entire world.  Many of which are on an endangered, threatened or vulnerable list.  These animals face great threats outside of becoming roadkill and once they’re gone, they’re gone forever.  Additionally, many of these creatures are nocturnal, like the kangaroo, which means when they are caught in your headlights, their light sensitive eyes become over stimulated and they become confused.  They do not register a metal object hurling towards them, they see some lights getting brighter and become blinded.  The best way to protect these animals is understanding how to not hit them.

Your Windscreen

Your car windscreen is the shield that protects you from the elements outside of your car.  Despite it playing an important protective role, it can easily break, as it needs to be large and clear so you can have the most visibility you possibly can.  Because of this, breaking your car windscreen can pose significant personal and financial risk.  Even the smallest of animals such as a bird, traveling at high speeds, can put you up for a pricey and unexpected car windscreen replacement cost.  Even worse, if a larger animal such as a kangaroo or even a cow meets the unfortunate event of colliding with your vehicle, you are now up for more than the car windscreen replacement price, you are now risking your health and safety.  The best way to avoid the cost of windscreen replacement and keep yourself safe is understanding how to not hit them.

How To Avoid Hitting Wildlife

When attempting to avoid hitting wildlife to protect the animals and avoid a windscreen replacement, there are several factors you must consider.

Speed

The most important thing to avoid hitting wildlife and perhaps the most obvious is your speed.  The faster you go the further it takes to stop and the shorter you have to react after seeing the animal.  On the other side, the faster you go the less time the animal also has to react.  You should under no circumstances be going more than the speed limit and if you are feeling uncomfortable, going a little under the speed limit is a sensible decision.  If you see an animal, you should slow down in a straight line and attempt to stop.  If a collision is inevitable, you should not swerve to get out of the way is this will only put you at further risk as you may easily roll the car while it is off balance.  Instead drive straight through the animal while continuing to slow.

Look

Needless to say, when you are driving you should be watching the road.  However, when you are country driving you should be looking further into the distance including the sides of the road.  If you spot an animal early, you will have more time to slow down.

Sound

When new stimulus is approaching an animal’s immediate surroundings at an unnatural speed, it may be so foreign to it that it becomes confused.  Sounding your horn repeatedly when you spot an animal to frighten it will prompt it to run away and avoid a collision.  This is particularly important for hybrid cars as their engine is very quiet, if not silent.

Light 

While driving at night time on country roads it is standard procedure to have your lights on full beam.  This is the safest thing to do.  However, if you spot an animal on the road at night, you should set your lights to dim and immediately start slowing while sounding your horn.  As these animals would be nocturnal and hypersensitive to bright lights, this will give the animal the greatest chance to register what is happening and get out of the way.

Fixing Your Car Windscreen

Repairs 

If you do hit an animal on your journey, hopefully it is only minor windscreen damage like a chip.  This will be fairly cheap to fix and means you can continue on your journey.  If it is needing a repair, you can arrange a technician from Dean’s Autoglass to inspect the chip and use the latest in UV lighting technology to repair the damage with a smooth resin and polish.  It is a quick, easy and effective method.  You can get a quote on their free and easy to use website or call up today.

Replacement

Unfortunately, if the windscreen or rear windscreen are needing to be replaced the replacement cost is substantially more than and vary on a few factors; the make, the model and the year of the car.  As you could imagine, the cost of a windscreen for a Ford F450 truck, since it is large and uncommon in Australia, windscreen replacement price in comparison will be much larger than a Hyundai Accent.  Additionally, if the car windscreen has extra features such as water detection or tinting, the car windscreen price will be higher to replace.  For all your replacement needs, Dean’s Autoglass will be able to meet them.  Again, you can use their quick, easy and free website to get a quote or call up today to book in your car for your replacement.