MPs call for 'rethink' to clock changes as injuries mount up

Date: 23/10/2009

Scrapping daylight savings time would make Britain's roads safer and save dozens of lives a year, it has been claimed.

With the clocks due to go back an hour over the weekend, the House of Commons Transport Committee has reported that, on average, 80 people a year are killed as a direct result of there being one fewer hour of daylight.

Specifically, the committee told parliament that the number of accidents happening on UK roads involving cyclists or pedestrians tends to rise by as much as ten per cent in the days following the switch.

On the back of these findings, it called on ministers to look into moving the clocks forwards rather than backwards in the autumn so as to cut back on the number of people being either killed or seriously injured.

"The Department [for Transport] should take the lead in re-examining the practice of changing clocks at the end of British Summer Time with other central government departments," the committee's report concluded.

At the same time, it also noted that child pedestrians from poorer areas are significantly more likely to be killed or injured on Britain's roads than those from wealthier areas.