PORTLAND – As Maine enters its peak season for motor vehicle collisions with moose, state officials are pondering new measures to ease the problem.

From 1997 to 2001, moose accounted for 3,600 crashes, 11 fatalities and damage totaling $81 million.

Maine has received more than $100,000 in federal grants to deal with moose crashes, installed signs and highway strips in problem areas, and launched an education effort to inform drivers. Still, the number of accidents – about 700 a year – is not dropping.

“The issue is basically perceived as a problem by everyone from the federal highway department to the Humane Society,” said biologist Bobby Van-Riper, who works with the Department of Transportation.

This summer the state hopes to test new motion-detector signs that flash when a large animal is in the road. There also are proposals to expand the moose hunt farther south.

Moose accidents are not clustered in just the northern and rural reaches of the state. Mapping data show numerous collisions in the congested southern tier, where the animal is more scarce but roads are busier.

A map detailing crash sites from 1999 to 2001 shows collisions across Maine. Most striking are the clusters of dots south of Van Buren, extending to Houlton, and also from Kittery to Portland.

May is the beginning of prime season for moose collisions, with the number of crashes peaking in June and not dropping off significantly until November.

State wildlife biologist Chuck Hulsey said that, in late spring, the large animal is drawn to the salt left from winter road treatments. Crashes most often occur between 7 p.m. and midnight, because moose are nearly impossible to see at night, when they tend to wander into roads to lick the salt from the pavement.

In the past five years, the state has tried many public awareness campaigns, from a video shown in driver education courses to colorful maps that identify crash sites across Maine.

Federal funds have been spent recently to test new road signs in western Maine. This summer – if those funds can be stretched far enough – Maine will install infrared, moose-activated signs on Route 4 near Rangeley, where there have been multiple crashes in recent years, Van-Riper said. Such signs have been used in Montana, Iowa and Oregon.

State wildlife planner Sandy Ritchie said the idea of extending the fall hunt into southern Maine is being discussed, but that would happen only if there were widespread public acceptance.

“What we don’t want to do is to have the hunt open in a part of the state without public input and support and jeopardize the hunt,” she said.

Even if there were a limited moose hunt in York County, Ritchie said there is no guarantee that thinning the herd would prevent the remaining moose from walking in front of cars.