Travelling further north still, I also noticed a distinct absence of roadkill between the Phillip Hughes Bridge and the Nambucca Heads Service Centre.

Winter is usually a time of low animal movement, with more roadkill recorded in the Spring and Summer months.

But the big dry is quite clearly having an impact on carcass numbers, with macropods perilously approaching verges and roadsides to graze on the grasses which line them.

Despite local WIRES statistics not showing an increase in case numbers, John believes this is primarily because "so many road fatalities and injuries are now going unreported as the drought worsens".

Even without the drought, NRMA's Insurance research specialist Chris Emerson warned this season was risky for collisions.

"Our data shows that winter is the riskiest time for crashes involving animals as twilight coincides with peak hour traffic," he said.

Even suburban streets are becoming ground zero for the battle between cars and creatures - on a casual drive around Nambucca Heads (excluding Hyland Park) this afternoon I counted 15 carcasses of all descriptions.

But returning to the highway for a minute - why the discrepancy between north and south?

The latest figures from the Winter Warrell Creek to Nambucca Heads Upgrade operational road kill monitoring report have just been released.

During the July sample period, surveyors noted 33 fauna killed on the highway, with the chance that there may have been more if not for "heavy rain preceding the 5 July survey [which] may have washed small carcasses into drains".

Four out of five of those 33 birds and animals recorded, were found between the bridge and Warrell Creek.

Eight of those animals killed were red-necked wallabies.

The report highlights the Gumma Floodplain as a hot spot for roadkill.

"Wallabies continue to be killed on the highway, especially within the vicinity of Bald Hill Road and Albert Drive. Results of monitoring in October 2018 and January 2019 raised concerns about the effect of roadkill on the local red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) population in the Albert Drive to upper Warrell Creek area. A further two red-necked wallabies were recorded road-killed during April. Continued roadkill at present rates is likely to reduce the abundance of wallabies in habitat adjoining the road," the report said.

The report also suggests a reason why this area is particularly lethal to wallabies:

In contrast, the northern section is almost entirely lined with a floppy-top wire fencing and, in places, frog exclusion fencing.

We asked Transport for NSW (formerly RMS) what the justification was for the different treatment of the two sections, in light of the routinely larger percentage of roadkill recorded along the southern end.

"The fauna exclusion fencing is an effective mitigation as demonstrated by the fact there have been no reported incidents of road kill for koala, spotted tailed quoll and threatened frogs," a Transport for NSW spokesperson said.

"The location and design of fauna fencing has been approved by the Australian Department of Environment and Energy, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and the NSW Environment Protection Authority.

"The majority of animals impacted by traffic have been bird species, which fly over fauna fencing and into the road corridor.

"The environmental assessment identified that the northern section of the project has significantly more threatened species habitat than the southern part and therefore required more fauna fencing to mitigate potential impacts to threatened species.

"Transport for NSW has identified the Bald Hill Road interchange as an area to monitor closely and will review the effectiveness of fencing and drop down structures for threatened species. This area presents more challenges for fauna exclusion due to road access at interchanges and overpasses."

With increased numbers of animals seeking food beside our roads, the message is clear from experts: Slow down around dawn and dusk, and watch out, there's wildlife about.

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