Kangaroo Crashes on the Rise

The biggest threat to Australian motorists is not road rage or drink driving but kangaroos, according to new research.

Cars hitting wildlife cost insurers £8.5m last year, with one in every 1,200 cars hitting an animal over the course of the year.

Kangaroos formed the vast majority of that total: 9,000 of out of the 11,000 claims lodged for animal crashes.

"We don't have many cases where people have actually been injured by them, but it certainly makes a mess of your car," said Robert McDonald, research manager of the motor insurer NRMA.

"Against the total number of claims we get it doesn't amount to much, but the number keeps going up."

The problem has worsened as a two-year drought drives animals to forage for food closer to roads. In problem areas, authorities have installed roadside reflectors to ward off the animals, and have set up three-metre (10ft) roo-proof fences.