Tasmania is renowned for its stunning wilderness, clean air and great food, but the island-paradise image is being sullied by roads littered with dead wildlife.
The southern state has long held the title as Australia's roadkill capital but experts say the carnage is at its worst and some are calling for urgent action.
As Tassie's clocks are wound back on Sunday, bringing dusk to an earlier hour, the bitumen butchery will worsen, Hobart-based research scientist Alistair Hobday said.
"Late summer is always the peak in roadkill ... and when we lose daylight saving that will get even worse," he told AAP.
After more than five years of intensive roadkill analysis, Dr Hobday found an unprecedented rate of wildlife deaths on Tasmania's roads - far greater than any other state or territory.
During the same period he was able to confirm at least eight human deaths as the result of vehicles swerving to miss animals.
"We know about those deaths because someone else in the car survived to tell the tale, but how many more people have died alone from the same cause?" Dr Hobday asked.
University of Tasmania ecologist Barry Brook said the cost of human life and injury is just one reason why the issue must be addressed.
"There are serious economic and health impacts.
"(But roadkill) is a serious issue because it is a major mortality factor for some of the state's threatened species including devils and bandicoots.
"It has and will affect population ecology."
In some cases, certain species have no known predator other than vehicles.
"There does need to be a systematic analysis into this to determine how authorities might be able to address the issue," Prof Brook said.
"It could be relatively easily investigated, followed by some trials with modifying roadside vegetation."
Dry conditions is among the speculative causes of why roadkill has been so prevalent - Tasmania received its lowest rainfall on record between September and December and wildlife go looking for food which can often be found roadside.
"It has been the hottest average temperature on record this summer and relatively dry, it's an El Nino year," Prof Brook said.
"Beside roads there is green pick around to eat and drainage lines as well - things that attract animals might become more striking during weather like this."
Biologist and wildlife expert Nick Mooney said drivers need to slow down.
And he contrasted the common view that tourists - unfamiliar with Tasmania's roads and wildlife numbers - are responsible for much of the roadkill.
"Local road users have become immune to it but tourists are not," he said.
"Tourists aren't the problem: they don't want to have an insurance claim in their rental car and are rarely driving at night."
Instead Mr Mooney pointed the finger at Tasmanians and particularly those in four-wheel drives, who have become blase about hitting wildlife on the roads.
"We just need to slow down, that really is the most cost-effective solution," he said.
"There needs to be greater guidance in our training of how to drive with wildlife."
Mr Mooney agreed the problem is at a height.
"It's spectacular, the roadkill at the moment, and there are a number of reasons for that including an increase in the number of cars on Tasmania's roads."
He is disappointed by the community attitude which seems to be most concerned with cosmetics: cleaning up the carcass.
Drivers who hit wildlife in their car should always stop, Mr Mooney said.
"Probably once a month I find a wallaby on the side of the road alive but with a broken back.
"It's incredibly rare that people stop to check the animal and about a third of those hit struggle off the road and are left suffering just metres away.
"People always stop if they hit a dog and I think the same should apply if they hit a wallaby."
Roadkill mitigation measures are varied.
Most common and financially viable is keeping roadsides manicured, but more technical options are emerging including virtual fencing, which is an invisible perimeter where boundaries are drawn entirely by GPS and an alarm sounds when animals approach.
Wildlife overpasses, used above major highways, have been built by some mainland states.
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