UMFK students study speed as a factor in moose collisions

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FORT KENT– A University of Maine at Fort Kent student-led research project to help determine what part speed plays in area moose collisions reports results that disagree with local law enforcement personnel experiences.

Local residents are familiar with the problem that moose pose for drivers on many of the area roads. The large and unpredictable animals can weigh up to 1,400 pounds in the northeast, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and a collision with one is sometimes fatal.

What causes the collision threats is a subject of some debate, however. Opinions vary from whether collision frequencies are due primarily to overpopulation, weather conditions, road conditions, or driver error.

UMFK students Taylor Baker of Ashland, Joshua Whalen of Exeter, a town near Bangor, and Scott Moulton of Minot, a town near Auburn/Lewiston, worked together over the course of a couple of days to gather data at local “hot spots,” or common areas for moose collisions, to see how much of a role speeding might play in moose collisions.

They specifically focused on gathering data that could help determine whether speeding plays a role in the state-reported 86 percent higher incidence of moose collisions at night.

The team gathered readings on Soucy Hill in Fort Kent and also in Cross Lake during both daytime and nighttime, using a University-owned radar gun to record speeds from approximately 100 passing vehicles, and determined that speeds were on average four miles per hour faster at night.

Moulton said four out of five drivers were also traveling over the speed limit at night, compared to smaller numbers during the day.

Given this information, Whalen said the students believe that “overdriving headlights” likely plays a role in moose collisions in this area.

UMFK Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Stephen Hansen summed up the students’ observations and said, “It’s a people problem; it’s not just the moose.”

In contrast to the students’ observations, however, Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud said his radar readings indicate speeds are generally the same regardless of time of day. In fact, he said speeds are generally highest in the morning as opposed to at night, as people are driving to work.

It was unclear whether the police chief considers a difference of four miles-per-hour a significant difference.

He believes that speed is not a large contributing factor in moose collisions.

“A moose is a stupid animal. Even though a car is coming, he keeps going,” he said, referring to the fact that a moose will occasionally run into the side of a vehicle. “It doesn’t matter if you are speeding or not speeding.”

Michaud said lack of visibility plays a primary role in moose collisions, and as workers clear vegetation farther back from the road, fewer collisions occur. He pointed to the fewer number of collisions in Cross Lake after the Department of Transportation cleared the shoulders of the road in that location.

He cautioned drivers that moose have been coming to the side of the road near the Maine Public Service building in Fort Kent and on the Frenchville road near the second railroad crossing for the salt.

Michaud said people travel, on average, 10 to 12 miles-per-hour faster than the speed limit both on the Caribou Road and in town, although said he’s noticed that people tend to drive faster when it’s raining.

State Police Trooper Dan Marquis said he also sees out-of-town speeds as being similar during the daytime and nighttime, although he believes that speeding and driver inattention does contribute to the number of moose collisions.

The students’ recorded speeds disagreed with not only with the law enforcement personnel-observed differences in average speeds at night versus during the day, but also appeared to indicate that when speeding at night, drivers tended to speed at much higher rates.

The outliers in speeds at night were significantly higher at night than during the day, said Moulton. In one example, a driver was traveling at 96 miles-per-hour in a 50 miles-per-hour zone during a nighttime sampling session. Many drivers at night were traveling in the 70 miles-per-hour speed range, said the student scientists.

Several drivers were also traveling significantly slower than the speed limit at night, however, thereby dragging the averages between daytime and nighttime speeds down.

Weather had little effect on the differences between nighttime and daytime speeds, said Baker, as it was similar at all times of the day, although given the slightly icy conditions during the students’ sessions, they anticipated slower speeds than they recorded. They also said type of vehicle seemed unrelated to speeds.