Most grey nomads are well aware of the dangers posed by wandering wildlife as they drive along remote country roads. Collisions with everything from camels to cassowaries and wombats to wallabies have previously been recorded by caravanners and motorhomers. And it seems wild brumbies are becoming an increasing issue for all road users.
A man has been killed early this morning and two others injured when the car they were in hit a horse on the Stuart Highway, 80 kilometres south of Tennant Creek. Senior Sergeant Gary Smith from NT Police said it was likely that the car had hit a wild horse, which were plentiful in the area. The accident caused major traffic delays.
The tragedy comes just days after the conclusion of an inquest into the deaths of two people in separate incidents on Queensland’s Bruce Highway last year.
Bernard Ashton Davis, 43, was killed when his motorcycle struck a wild horse as it entered the highway on July 31, and Byron James Crowley, 15, died when his mother’s car hit a brumby carcass on September 30. The brumby had only minutes earlier been struck and killed by a prime mover and flung across the highway.
Coroner Kevin Priestly heard that it had long been known for at least a decade that the wild horses posed a risk to road users and public safety in the area.
In closing submissions, counsel-assisting-the-coroner Jesika Franco said 68% of the calls relating to stray animals between July 1 and September 30 last year involved horses.
The coroner is expected to deliver his finding into the Bruce Highway deaths in August.
The issue of wild brumbies has long been a difficult one for authorities to deal with. Earlier this year the New South Wales Government announced a plan to almost wipe out the Snowy Mountains brumby population over the next two decades. However, the draft Wild Horse Management plan– which aims to reduce the number of wild horses in the Kosciusko National Park area from 6,000 to approximately 3,000 in the next five to 10 years – was heavily criticised by many. One ongoing bone of contention is how the population can be humanely reduced.
There use to be brumbies at Barrington Tops 25 yrs ago, don’t know if they still wander in the NP.
If u hit a horse u are in trouble. They r high, like a camel and will come back through your windscreen. If u r travelling and see horses on/beside the road slow down. If the mob is split either side of the road they will cross to get back to their mates. Over all SLOW DOWN