The 'roo leapt out of the darkness and directly into YouTube user Dellamotor's van on a country road in the Australian state of Victoria on Sunday around 8:30 p.m. Dellamotor's dashcam caught the kangaroo as it emerged from complete darkness and into the van's headlights. Unable to decide which way to go, the roo struck the speeding van. It bounced off of the windshield and pummeled the roof and side of his vehicle. Dellamotor said the critter then leapt off into the night. It was too dark for him to see if the kangaroo was injured, but his van was badly dented.
The kangaroo population in Victoria has skyrocketed in recent years. A report from Wildlife Victoria last year noted the increasing rate of animals being hit by cars. By this time last year 6,000 kangaroo car hits were recorded just in Victoria. That's double what the population in Victoria saw just a few years ago. On average, Australian motorists hit 20,000 kangaroos each year. That, in turn, results in about 75 million Australian dollars in insurance claims. In 2014, 70,000 kangaroos were culled to relieve the stress of too many animals roaming the outback, ABC.net reported. Australia's kangaroo problem is so bad that automaker Volvo is preparing a kangaroo-specific avoidance system.
