Road risks Maine drivers brave rain, ice, snow, and errant animals

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In an early morning drive to work last summer, Kay Gerard escaped death in one heart-thumping moment.

Gerard, 22, of Madawaska was headed to Bangor when a massive bull moose decided he had the right of way on Caribou Road.

The moose came out of the forest so quickly that Gerard struck the animal, sending it tumbling over her vehicle’s hood.

She escaped with scratches, but her small car was demolished.

“I was not speeding. I was paying attention, and it was completely unavoidable,” Gerard said.

Driving on Maine’s roads is risky business whether you encounter wildlife, an inebriated driver, slippery conditions or a speeder.

There were 34,196 motor vehicle crashes in the state in 2005, according to the most recently available information from the state Department of Transportation. In those crashes, 169 people died.

“Although Maine’s 2005 fatality rate of 1.13 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was lower than the national average rate of 1.47, we had the second-highest rate of the seven Northeastern states,” said Duane Brunell, DOT safety performance analysis manager.

Lane departure crashes, both running off the road and head-on, accounted for 80 percent of all traffic deaths, Brunell said. Accidents involving moose totaled 667, of which the largest percentage occurred in Aroostook County.

Brunell said speed and other aggressive driving tendencies are on the increase. Since crashes are almost always preventable, Maine drivers can reduce these numbers significantly by following safe driving practices, he said.

All motorists know that speed limit signs should be obeyed and that driving while impaired is against the law.

But which practice should be followed if your vehicle is careening down a hill toward open water and your brakes fail as in the case of a Greenville woman who ended up drowning last summer?

What approach should you use if an oncoming vehicle is headed toward you in your lane?

What should occur – besides a quick prayer – if you lose control of your vehicle on an icy road?

What if a moose is directly in your path as it was in Gerard’s case?

“In the world of driving, there are so many variables,” said Sgt. Louis Nyitray of the Maine State Police.

Nyitray, who has spent 20 years teaching basic and advanced driving to law enforcement officers, also knows that some crashes are unavoidable.

The moose

Gerard recalled her driver’s education instructor telling her that if she ever struck a moose she should accelerate after contact to throw the moose over the vehicle to avoid a rooftop landing.

Gerard, then 16, recalled laughing at that advice, thinking there was no way anyone would remember it. During her recent encounter, however, she did exactly that.

She slammed on the brakes, felt the impact of the moose, then accelerated her car, Gerard said. The momentum propelled the animal over the roof, saving her life and that of the moose, which wandered back into the woods after the thumping that fateful morning.

“I have no clue how I remembered to do so in that split second; I guess it was just a lifesaving instinct,” said Gerard, who is a state staff member for Sen. Susan Collins.

“One thing is for sure, you just never know what will cross your path,” Gerard said. “I guess I credit my survival to remaining calm and composed. Whether or not I would react the same way a second time around is debatable.”

Casey Gray, 67, of Livermore Falls recalled a close call he had with two bull moose not long ago.

Gray and two friends had finished dining out and were returning home when Gray saw a “huge black mass” about 25 feet ahead in the near darkness. Gray said he slammed on the brakes. That action slowed his vehicle from 50 mph to about 25 mph and allowed him just enough time to steer to the right of the animals, which were running after each other.

“Soon after, all I could think was, ‘What if there had been a third moose?'” Gray said.

The lesson taught Gray to slow down at night, use his high beams when possible, and not to panic.

If a collision with a moose is unavoidable, common wisdom among some drivers is to hit the animal at full speed, but that is so wrong, according to Nyitray.

“Speeding up is the last thing you want to do,” he said. The faster a vehicle, the harder the impact, he said. Drivers should slow down and, if a crash is unavoidable, the driver should aim for either end of the moose to minimize the risk of having the entire body crash through the windshield, he said.

Just as law enforcement recruits are trained, drivers should focus on where they want their vehicle to go to avoid a crash. If drivers focus on the threat in the road instead, their hands will freeze on the wheel and they will hit the obstacle, Nyitray said.

“Every car has its limitations but it’s affected by the vehicle’s condition, the environment, the driver and the driver’s ability,” Nyitray said.

An advocate for more in-depth driver training that embraces crash prevention and crash avoidance lessons, Nyitray said driver education is a great course but it does not include hands-on physical techniques. “There’s more to driving a car than you ever dreamed of,” he said.

Even with the intensive defensive driving course law enforcement recruits are required to take, crashes still occur, Nyitray said. “You are either going to make the right move or you’re not,” he said.

Headed toward water

Police said a Greenville woman who drowned last summer in Moosehead Lake when her vehicle careened down a hill and slammed into the water apparently did everything she could to stop her vehicle.

Nyitray said anyone in that situation should apply the emergency brake gradually to avoid locking up the brakes and to put the vehicle in reverse or downshift. If that fails, the steering wheel should be twisted back and forth to create a drag and to slide the vehicle around if there is space to avoid injuring anyone else.

If those maneuvers fail and contact with water is inevitable, the driver should hold the wheels of the vehicle straight when it hits the water to prevent it from rolling upside down and leaving the driver disoriented, Nyitray said.

Never remove a seat belt until after the vehicle lands in the water because the seat belt helps to prevent a concussion or other injuries, he said. If the windows and doors are electric, they should be opened the minute the vehicle hits the water before the water disrupts the operating mechanism, he said.

“As silly as it sounds, try to relax,” Nyitray said. “Stiffening up is the worst thing you can do.”

The driver should climb out of the window if possible, otherwise one must wait until the vehicle fills with water so the doors will open and escape is possible.

“It’s almost a panic control thing,” Nyitray said.

Driver in your lane

Panic was on Kelley Neptune’s mind when she had a recent near-hit with an oncoming vehicle.

Neptune, 38, of Indian Island recalled that a large pickup truck pulled out of a side road one night and came head-on into her lane.

“I swerved to the right to avoid it and immediately swerved back into my lane,” Neptune said. In that same second she spotted a boy in dark clothing walking in the opposite direction she was driving. A few seconds more in either direction and, she said, she would have struck the pedestrian.

“It sent shivers down my spine to think how close we came to hitting him,” she said. “Hindsight is 20-20, and I would have never swerved to the right if I had known he was there. I couldn’t see him till I passed him because I was watching the truck on my left. It goes to show that you should always think before reacting.”

Had Neptune moved into the oncoming lane to avoid a crash in her lane, she could have been at fault had a crash occurred, according to Nyitray. If a vehicle is headed toward you in the wrong lane, you should slow down and head for the ditch while looking for the softest place to land, he said. “Most motorists will do just that -their instinct is to get away from danger,” Nyitray said. “That’s the only predictable thing you’ve got going for you,” he said.

Sudden loss of control

A motorist who has lost control of a vehicle should reduce speed and try to maintain steering control, Nyitray said. Above all, learn to anticipate problems during bad weather and give yourself greater stopping distances between vehicles, he said.

Nyitray recalled his own encounter with an out-of-control vehicle in Fairfield. He said he watched as the driver of an oncoming Jeep lost control on a slippery road and the vehicle came at him sideways. As soon as he saw the vehicle, Nyitray said, he took note of his surroundings, including the fact that there were no other vehicles behind the Jeep and that a vehicle was stopped ahead on his side of the road in the breakdown lane. He said he lifted his foot off the gas pedal, went into the breakdown lane as smoothly as he could, and cleared the Jeep by about a foot. Then he veered to the left and narrowly missed the parked vehicle.

Lane departures

In 2005 alone, there were some 12,000 lane-departure crashes in Maine that resulted in 135 deaths – 80 percent of the state’s total traffic fatalities, according to DOT’s Brunell. Forty-five percent of those crashes occurred on road surfaces that had snow, slush or ice, he said.

Lane-departure crashes are often head-on. When drivers run off a road they usually strike a fixed object such as a tree, rock ledge or utility pole, according to Brunell.

“We could make a significant improvement in Maine’s highway safety results by adhering to safe driving practices like operating at a proper speed, slowing way down during wintry conditions, and avoiding distractions that take your attention away from the driving task,” Brunell said.

When you combine snow, slush and ice-related crashes, Maine has an average of some 7,000 a year. That’s about 20 percent of Maine’s total crashes.

So weather is, indeed, a big influence on your likelihood of crash involvement, Brunell said.

“Early winter is when winter driving crashes are most frequent, and that seems to be an indication that Maine drivers don’t immediately adapt to these slippery road conditions,” he said.

The best driver tips for such conditions are to slow down, maintain a safe following distance behind the car ahead, and don’t let four-wheel drive give you a false sense of security because the braking performance won’t be any better.

An “old guy” from Ellsworth, who responded to a query on bangordailynews.com about defensive driving, had some advice:

When he comes to a stop sign, he leaves plenty of space from the stop line so he can move out of the way quickly, if necessary. When stopping behind other cars, “old guy” leaves a couple of car lengths in front of him, and he said he always checks his mirrors to see whether he might be in a threatening situation. “I know that space can’t hurt me, so I make sure I always have some around me.”

Nyitray said drivers should always be alert.

“The more time you spend on the road, the more likely you will face one of these situations,” he said. “There’s no absolutes in the world of driving.”