Change Your Clocks, Then Be Careful

Scientists Find You Are 3 Times As Likely To Get Hit By A Car After Time Change

(AP)  After clocks are turned back this weekend, pedestrians walking during the evening rush hour are nearly three times more likely to be struck and killed by cars than before the time change, two scientists calculate.

Ending daylight saving time translates into about 37 more U.S. pedestrian deaths around 6 p.m. in November compared to October, the researchers report.

Their study of risk to pedestrians is preliminary but confirms previous findings of higher deaths after clocks are set back in fall.

It's not the darkness itself, but the adjustment to earlier nighttime that's the killer, said professors Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard, both of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Fischbeck, who regularly walks with his 4-year-old twins around 6 p.m., is worried enough that he'll be more cautious starting Monday.

"A three times increase in the risk is really dramatic, and because of that we're carrying a flashlight," he said.

Fischbeck and Gerard conducted a preliminary study of seven years of federal traffic fatalities and calculated risk per mile walked for pedestrians. They found that per-mile risk jumps 186 percent from October to November, but then drops 21 percent in December.

They said the drop-off by December indicates the risk is caused by the trouble both drivers and pedestrians have adjusting when darkness suddenly comes an hour earlier.

The reverse happens in the morning when clocks are set back and daylight comes earlier. Pedestrian risk plummets, but there are fewer walkers then, too. The 13 lives saved at 6 a.m. don't offset the 37 lost at 6 p.m., the researchers found.

The risk for pedestrian deaths at 6 p.m. is by far the highest in November than any other month, the scientists said. The danger declines each month through May.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of Arlington, Va., in earlier studies found the switch from daylight saving time to standard time increased pedestrian deaths. Going to a year-round daylight saving time would save about 200 deaths a year, the institute calculated, said spokesman Russ Rader.

"Benjamin Franklin conceived of daylight savings time as a way of saving candles," Rader said Friday. "Today we know it saves lives."

The risk at 6 p.m. in November, after daylight saving time ends, is 11 times higher than the risk for the same hour in April, when daylight saving begins, according to the Carnegie Mellon researchers.

Fischbeck and Gerard used federal traffic fatality data that they've incorporated into a searchable database for different risk factors. Their analysis was not peer-reviewed or being published in a scientific journal.

But it does jibe with other peer-reviewed studies that looked at raw fatalities.

A 2001 study by John M. Sullivan at the University of Michigan looked at national traffic statistics from 1987 to 1997 and found that there were 65 crashes killing pedestrians in the week before the clocks fell back and 227 in the week after.

Fischbeck and Gerard found the increase in fatality risk after the end of daylight saving time is only for pedestrians. No such jump was seen for drivers or passengers in cars.

Once everyone "springs forward" to daylight saving time in April, there is a 78 percent drop in risk at 6 p.m., they said.

But overall for the evening rush hour, turning the clock back is a killer. In seven years there have been 250 more deaths in the fall and 139 fewer deaths in the spring.

"This clearly shows that both drivers and pedestrians should think about this daylight savings adjustment," Gerard said. "There are lives at stake."

[michellem99-2009]

My father,late uncle,room mate raised their paws for military ,went in for God and Nation plus other family are vets. I have love ones still answering the call to arms.So just cause I can not write to yer likes. I am 53. I am not a ret@rd. Ye never met me and to ye sit there and bully me is low class. Go join the military,have repect for others. Ye clean yer home before ye tell me to clean mine. I did not vote for Bush..Don''t care for the man. I love the flag,thank our vets. Ye ungrateful bully and I know the mind of such..It is bad manners to call ye a troll but ye earnt it.. Be sefe as ye know ye ouaught.

[prairiefox1]

I DON''T SEE IT SAVING ANYTHING! I GET HOME AND CRANK UP THE AIR CONDITIONERS AND INTERIOR LIGHTING WHERE NEEDED!
BEFORE THIS INSANITY, I WOULD GET OFF WORK AND IT WOULDN''T BE LONG UNTIL NIGHTTIME! WE WOULD SIT ON THE FRONT PORCH AND IT WOULD BE A MEETING PLACE FOR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS !
THAT WAS WHEN THIS WAS A FRIENDLY NATION!

[shanev137]

Glad we''ve never had to worry about what time it is here in Arizona. The whole thing seems like a dumb idea.

[michellem99-2009]

I reminded my roommate to set the clocks back..He was pissed. I HATE it. The worse to set are my talking clocks. He said the microwave. He asked me why don''t they leave it one time year round..I told him yer have to..

[goodsamarata]

Whatever you think about this subject please keep in mind that daylight saving time should only be done between consenting adults. Thank you.

[gunownerdan]

We need to make daylight saving time year-round.
Imagine No more time changes and less pedestrians hit by cars.
Problem solved!

[cdfoxtrot]

It would obviously make a lot of sense to put the east coast, at least, on daylight saving time year round. Almost everyone is up and around at 6pm when it''s dark, while only a minority is up at 6am, when it''s bright. It would undoubtedly save a great deal of energy also, as we require less lights, heating, etc, when it''s bright outside.

[chromenun]

At least when I try to get out of my driveway in the mornings I won''t have the SUN blinding me now!!!! That was more of a hazard than walking in the afternoon or evening...WEAR LIGHT COLORED CLOTHES...CARRY A FLASH LIGHT...THINK before you do anything!!!! I had no control over the time the sun was shining in my direction, but I do have control over when I walk, and what I wear...

[hazelknows]

fear, fear, fear...... nothing is safe anymore

[downtowner97]

alphaa10 - You have a VCR? What time to you get up to saddle up the horse for work? hehe

[alphaa10-2009]

Arising earlier in spring and summer is a measure for increased productivity during the greater span of daylight. Reversing the cycle in fall and winter, and setting clocks backward will help spare our schoolchildren from half-grogged drivers in the early morning darkness.

Setting clocks backward during fall and winter does bring darkness "sooner" than during spring and summer, even without considering the shorter dayspan. But that is why we have electric light, Mr. Franklin.

Electric light has spared us from the more obvious limits of the daily routine-- such as enough light to find our way home. Frankly, most of us would like to leave our clocks, watches and VCR timers where they are-- on perpetual summer time.

[zootallures2]

"After clocks are turned back this weekend, pedestrians walking during the evening rush hour"

Are you threatening me...LOL.
Well alls I gots to say is:

"Hit" "Steel" "Plane" "Must"