REAR-END CRASHES

Seat belts, air bags, rollover bars are doing their jobs in coping with traffic accidents, but rear-end collisions are just beginning to get adequate attention.

Here in Maine, 10,902 rear-enders were reported in 2005 – nearly one-third of the total roadway crashes, according to the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety. There were only five rear-end-crash fatalities, but rear-enders accounted for 4,094 personal injuries (30 percent of the total) and an estimated $715 million in property damage.

National figures track Maine’s rather closely, and national traffic safety authorities are trying to reduce those numbers. Automobile manufacturers are devising automatic headrest adjustments that will increase head support in a rear-end crash and minimize whiplash. Pennsylvania has a stretch of highway with rows of painted dots and signs that urge you to keep three dots between your car and the one ahead.

While these measures may be helping, the drivers themselves can reduce the toll be two measures: paying closer attention to their driving, and reducing tailgating.

A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute equipped 100 cars with video cameras and other recording devices to monitor drivers for 42,300 hours and 2 million miles of driving in Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C., area. The study recorded 82 crashes and 761 near-crashes. Driver inattention was involved in 80 percent of all crashes and 93 percent of the rear-end crashes.

The videos showed drivers talking on cell phones, eating lunch, reaching for things in the back seat, lighting cigarettes, tending to pets, putting on makeup, adjusting the radio, chatting with passengers, and even shaving or drowsing in the seconds before the crashes.

Those drivers knew they were being watched. Imagine how much more careless are drivers not being monitored.

As for tailgating, authorities agree on advice for both a following car and the car ahead.

When following, keep your attention on the driving and leave plenty of room ahead for unexpected turns or stops. When you are the car ahead and another car is tailgating, don’t do anything to make matters worse. The tailgater may be in a legitimate hurry or he or she may be prone to road rage or violence.

In either case, it’s best to allow plenty of room ahead or even get out of the way so that the tailgater can pass and pester someone else. Don’t try to educate other drivers one at a time.

Above all, as the Virginia researchers urge, pay attention to your driving. And think twice before you fiddle with your cell phone. Pulling off the road may make sense to make a call, but turning off the phone could both improve your concentration and make the drive more pleasant.