Seems that the end of daylight saving time doesn't just mean turning back the clocks. There's a period of adjustment to the earlier onset of darkness, one that is accompanied by increased pedestrian deaths. After examining traffic fatality statistics spanning a 10-year period, Carnegie Mellon University professors Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard concluded that pedestrian deaths tripled around 6 p.m. in the weeks following the end of daylight saving time. Pedestrian fatalities begin to drop in December and decline with each passing month.
No connection was found between time changes and increased driver or automobile passenger deaths.
Links:
"Pedestrians 3 times more likely to be killed when clocks change, study says" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Center for the Study of Improvement and Regulation (CSIR) (joint research center of Carnegie Mellon University and University of Washington, headed by Fischbeck and Gerard)
TrafficSTATS (Statistics on Travel Safety)
Photo: "Night Traffic," of New Brunswick, NJ, by atanas.
