Winter must be well and truly on its way, as the usual safety warnings about the dangers caused when the clocks go back at 02.00 this Sunday morning are released.
However, this year’s safety heads-ups contain some interesting new research.
First up is the RAC Foundation, which has discovered that up to one and a half million motorists could be at higher risk of being involved in an accident because they are affected by SAD: Seasonally Affected Driving.
Their experts predict that seasonal affective disorder will be worse this year because of the dismal summer weather, which exacerbates SAD.
Up to 5 million adults experience feelings of depression in the darker winter months, and this can have serious consequences for road safety.
RoSPA, has also released details of its belief that the current time change may be responsible for causing up to 450 deaths and serious injuries each year.
Its research suggests that instead of the current system, if we stayed one hour ahead of GMT in winter, and two hours ahead in the summer, the risk to vulnerable road users could be dramatically reduced because evenings would remain lighter longer.
This research is backed up by a Cambridge University report too, which shows that turning the clocks back also leads to a surge in greenhouse gas emissions and adds millions of pounds to power bills.
Seems to make sense to us, just as long as we still get an extra hour in bed.
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