British MP Proposes By Moving Clocks Forward 1hr to Reduce Road Deaths.

RadarControl · 24-01-2007 2:48pm #1

On Friday, Tim Yeo, the MP for Suffolk South, will introduce a private member's Bill proposing a three-year experiment in moving the clocks forward by an hour so that the UK is on the same time as most of continental Europe. In winter they would be one hour ahead of GMT and in the summer two hours ahead.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents claims that the adoption of single-double summer time would result in 100 fewer road deaths.
I don't see how this change would result in fewer road deaths. I reckon if it get's passed our government might follow.

Mod's move to different forum if incorrect forum used.

http://www.renew-reuse-recycle.com/showarticle.pl?id=447

Hotblack Desiato · 24-01-2007 4:03pm

Fewer people will be driving home in the dark tired after a long day's work = safer.

mike65 · 24-01-2007 4:56pm

Never get light in winter and double summer time! Dark at 12.00-12.30 am in June! No thanks.

Mike.

gobdaw · 24-01-2007 5:27pm

Was this not tried in Ireland about 30 years ago, maybe summertime all year as emergy saver, but discontinued due to danger/fatalities for school-going children walking both morning and evening in dark, or should I take another tablet?

1huge1 · 24-01-2007 8:16pm

maybe if its later them people would be leaving home later and the roads would be less icy

Capt'n Midnight · 24-01-2007 9:52pm

gobdaw wrote:

Was this not tried in Ireland about 30 years ago, maybe summertime all year as emergy saver, but discontinued due to danger/fatalities for school-going children walking both morning and evening in dark, or should I take another tablet?

yeah I think you are right
but kids don't walk or cycle to school anymore

would be handy to be on CET
and for weekends in winter when you get up later - have an extra hour of brightness in the evenings - instead of it being dark in both the morning and in the evening :mad:

would be a bummer for the Scottish islanders in winter though

Victor · 24-01-2007 9:58pm

gobdaw wrote:

Was this not tried in Ireland about 30 years ago, maybe summertime all year as emergy saver, but discontinued due to danger/fatalities for school-going children walking both morning and evening in dark

Maybe it was, but school children tend to go home much earlier than workers.

Graph attached showing deaths, injuries and amount of traffic by time of day.

enda1 · 25-01-2007 12:27am

How about encouraging companies to start an hour earlier instead. Encouraging more companies to offer flexitime. Encourage companies to offer work from home programs. etc. etc.

Instead of changing the bloody time. What nonsence.

ardmacha · 25-01-2007 2:37am

Let England change this if they want, Scotland and Ireland have no need of it. We already have 20 minutes extra daylight in the afternoon.

Metrobest · 25-01-2007 3:08am

I think it's a good idea. An extra hour's daylight in the evening would be nice and would bring us into the line with CET - that's good for commerce.

We're no longer a farming nation so who cares what the farmers think about this, most office workers would like it.

gobdaw · 25-01-2007 11:47am

Victor wrote:

Graph attached showing deaths, injuries and amount of traffic by time of day.

That's a very interesting graph, esp vis-a-vis relevence of breathtests for morning after and late night. What's the source of this?

seamus · 25-01-2007 11:58am

ninja900 wrote:

Fewer people will be driving home in the dark tired after a long day's work = safer.

Well, if you look at Victor's graph, the number of deaths roughly correlates to the volume of traffic on the road. Except for 10pm - 4am, when it's way off. So, to move the clocks forward an hour, would do very little. It would have zero effect on the volume of traffic, and would also have no effect between 10pm and 4am - the deaths are caused by empty roads (when some people will drive like loonies because they can) and drunk drivers, not darkness and poor visibility.

Hotblack Desiato · 25-01-2007 11:12pm

seamus wrote:

Well, if you look at Victor's graph, the number of deaths roughly correlates to the volume of traffic on the road. Except for 10pm - 4am, when it's way off. So, to move the clocks forward an hour, would do very little.

Late at night drink enters the equation in a big way, so let's look at the morning and evening rush hour peaks.
Morning peak traffic is only slightly less than evening peak traffic - but deaths are half - why? Winter evenings are dark and drivers are tired after a long day.

Now maybe if the mornings were dark instead (they are for some of the year as it is) the morning peak would be higher than it is now, but the idea is that most drivers are well rested in the morning so dark mornings are less of a danger than dark evenings and overall deaths would fall

There's only so much daylight to play around with, but we can decide when it's put to best use. Traditionally that was for the benefit of farmers but that's not an overriding priority these days, or shouldn't be. Also what happens in the north of Scotland is their problem not ours.

We could abolish summer time altogether and stay on GMT+1 all year round, who doesn't hate it when the clocks go back? You really miss that hour's light, so why give it up?

Victor · 28-01-2007 2:13pm

ninja900 wrote:

Late at night drink enters the equation in a big way, so let's look at the morning and evening rush hour peaks.
Morning peak traffic is only slightly less than evening peak traffic - but deaths are half - why? Winter evenings are dark and drivers are tired after a long day.

Now maybe if the mornings were dark instead (they are for some of the year as it is) the morning peak would be higher than it is now, but the idea is that most drivers are well rested in the morning so dark mornings are less of a danger than dark evenings and overall deaths would fall

I would be interested in the statistics, but my understanding is that its down to tiredness in the evening, not darkness.

Gonzo · 28-01-2007 2:21pm

I would like if we were in the CET timezone too, I would love an extra hour of brightness in the winter evenings.

optiplexgx270 · 28-01-2007 2:29pm

Funny the way it is refering to a UK bill in the OP but most ppl here are relating it to Ireland getting the change. May work for the UK but there is no reason for it here.

Danno · 28-01-2007 3:34pm

With so much of our exports going to England, we would be economically bound to do so I would think. If all Irish industry was to loose 2 hours per day of trading with England it would have severe difficulties.

dowlingm · 28-01-2007 6:05pm

Here in Ontario we are changing when DST takes effect because the Americans are. It would be interesting to see if this went anywhere if Norn Iron could opt out...

Victor · 28-01-2007 6:47pm

dowlingm wrote:

Here in Ontario we are changing when DST takes effect because the Americans are. It would be interesting to see if this went anywhere if Norn Iron could opt out...

Everyone might change ... and they'll stay different.

MisterAnarchy · 28-01-2007 6:51pm

Its a great idea.
It should have been done years ago.
The long Winter evenings are extremely depressing and dangerous.
The hour should be moved back now instead of late March too.

Sarn · 28-01-2007 7:05pm

I imagine the effect of having an extra hour of daylight can be measured using Summer data for the past X number of years.

Ok, while this will not account for poorer road conditions during the Winter time or the fact that people might drink and drive a bit more in good weather it would highlight a basic trend and determine if tiredness or light is the major factor.

Hotblack Desiato · 28-01-2007 8:06pm

Victor wrote:

I would be interested in the statistics, but my understanding is that its down to tiredness in the evening, not darkness.

Sure, the driver in the evening will be just as tired, but with the benefit of daylight they should be safer than they would be in the dark.

Danno wrote:

With so much of our exports going to England, we would be economically bound to do so I would think. If all Irish industry was to loose 2 hours per day of trading with England it would have severe difficulties.

The UK is still important but far less so than it used to be. We're 1 hour off most of the EU and 2 hours off some of it, but we manage.

Many countries have more than one timezone and they manage. In Australia there isn't even a full hour between all the timezones i.e. at least one is half an hour off its neighbour. If they can cope with that I think we could manage being an hour off the UK. Or is the prospect of East Enders starting at 7pm just too terrifying to contemplate?

icdg · 28-01-2007 9:00pm

ninja900 wrote:

Many countries have more than one timezone and they manage. In Australia there isn't even a full hour between all the timezones i.e. at least one is half an hour off its neighbour. If they can cope with that I think we could manage being an hour off the UK. Or is the prospect of East Enders starting at 7pm just too terrifying to contemplate?

Yep, I think the thing most people would have trouble coping with is having to cope with constantly subtracting an hour from trailers for television programmes! On a more serious note, this could lead to programmes being shown before the traditional 9pm watershed (which would now be 8pm...)

Stark · 31-01-2007 1:19pm

God I'd love an extra hour's brightness in the winter. I agree with mike65 that double summer time would suck though.

juliuspret · 31-01-2007 1:23pm

mike65 wrote:

Never get light in winter and double summer time! Dark at 12.00-12.30 am in June! No thanks.

Mike.

???

Where do you live...Finland?

We would just all be an hour ahead....

British MP Proposes By Moving Clocks Forward 1hr to Reduce Road Deaths.

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