We don’t like driving after dark. It apparently has a lot to do with age, because we’ve talked to a number of fellow senior citizens who share our sentiments. If it’s an after-dark event, they often skip it, or get a ride with someone else.

One of the reasons we’re not totally comfortable with nighttime driving has to do with being keenly aware of the fact that we share the beautiful state of Maine with scores of animals who got here first. The road kill reminds us all daily of some poor critter that didn’t make it across the road. We see raccoons, porcupines, skunks, squirrels, turkeys and other animals, including someone’s beloved cat or dog that lost out in its encounter with a fast-moving vehicle.

However, it’s not the smaller wild animals which make us the most apprehensive when we can’t see beyond our headlight beams, it’s the larger ones with the power to do not only bodily harm to the occupants, but necessitate costly repairs to the vehicle. Equally as devastating is the trauma of watching a helpless animal suffer or perhaps die in front of you.

Our accident reports are filled with car/deer encounters, a reminder that we live in rural Maine where wildlife is plentiful. Not that’s deer aren’t equally at home a few feet off the highway on major thoroughfares such as the New Jersey turnpike, a perfect place to see – and try not to hit – a deer at night.  Here at home, deer sightings, both day and night, are common. It’s heart-stopping to be traveling along a Maine roadway and have a deer dart out in front of you. They apparently never learned to stop, look and listen which human beings have been taught to do, and they’re not always considerate enough to cross at a safe distance in front of you to allow for braking. Only a week ago, a large doe literally came out of nowhere directly in front of us. She chose a spot where the trees and shrubs were only a couple of feet from the pavement, with no visibility to provide even a few seconds’ warning. She made it across, our heart resumed its usual beat, and all was well. However, those aren’t the kind of surprises we appreciate and nighttime unfortunately provides more of them than daylight hours.

Our sympathies went out last week to the driver who struck and killed a large moose in the middle of the road on the Maine turnpike, seriously injuring his fiancée. Again, there’s no advance warning because you can’t see a dark-colored moose in the middle of the road until it’s too late. Unlike a deer which moves quickly to get out of the road, a moose feels absolutely no compulsion to move whatsoever, and will often stare at an oncoming car with that “I live here too, so go out around me’’ look that defies  you to call upon your reflexes to somehow avoid him.

While we often think of the Maine woods as “up north,’’ here  in midcoast Maine we actually have an abundance of wildlife to share with the humans who choose to live here, too. Unfortunately, the burden for caution rests solely with us. Try to stay safe on the roads, remembering that you’re not alone.