Watch Out... DST Can Kill You!

Some odd study made in the United Stated, reveals that pedestrians walking during the evening rush hour, are three time more likely to be killed or hit by cars, than before the time change.



This week-end clocks are turned one hour back, switching from Day Light Saving Time(DST) to Standard Time. The Day Light Saving Time was conceived by Benjamin Franklin as a way of saving candles, and is now used in North America, Europe, part of Asia, and other countries around the world.

Americans are resetting their clocks in November instead of October - but it's really the same old drill, just a week later.

The modern DST was proposed by William Willett in 1907. Adding extra daylight has a lot of benefits for commerce and sports, and the fact that there is more time during noons in which the Sun shines, seems to reduce traffic related fatalities.

The reason for pedestrian deaths is not directly related to the darkness itself but rather the fact that people can not adjust to the night time coming earlier once time is switched to Standard Time. The research conducted by professors Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard, both of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, on a seven year study of federal traffic fatalities, shows that the calculated risk for a pedestrian walking a mile is increased to 186 percent from the months of October to November, but it then drops suddenly in December, to only 21 percent.

The risk factor dropping in the month of December show the scientists, the trouble people have to adjusting when night time comes with one hour earlier. The risk caused by DST, is neutralized when clocks are being set back, and day time comes one hour earlier, but even then there are a few pedestrians being injured or killed.

The Insurance Institute For Highway Safety of Arlington, also found that the change in the clock hour from DST to standard time, increases the number of pedestrian deaths, and has calculated that every year about 200 lives could be saved, it the DST would be implements year-round.