I can tell the other USn's here that roo bars are necessary Down Under. Fifteen years or so ago I was on an overnight bus trip from Adelaide up to Broken Hill, sitting directly behind the driver. I was dozing when there was a thump that awakened several people ont he bus. The driver explained that he'd just whacked (at 100 kph or so) the biggest roo I've ever hit. When we got to the next stop, I took a look at the roo bar. It was a set of very heavy chromed steel tuves, and two of them had been bent back at least three inches by the impact. Lord knows what kind of damage we'd have had to the bus if it weren't for the roo bars.
By the bye, deer cause more human deaths in the US than any other species of animals, due to road collisions. I know a woman who hit an elk here in Colorado last year; the collision totalled her car but no one in the car was hurt. When they got to looking around the scene they discovered the elk had gotten up and wandered away.
