19th June 2007

Save daylight to save lives and save energy

This Thursday June 21st is officially the longest day of the year and The Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association (LARSOA) is campaigning to move time forward by one hour throughout the year so there is an extra hour of daylight during the winter months at a time when many people are returning home from work and school.

Research shows lighter evenings would save lives on the roads - between 104 and 138 fewer deaths each year. And the figures also show that would amount to a total of 450 fewer deaths and serious injuries.

David Frost from LARSOA explains: "The figures speak for themselves. By using daylight savings measures and achieving an extra hour of daylight on winter afternoons, as many as 450 people would be spared the horror of dealing with a serious or fatal collision.

"But there seems little or no interest from the government in pursuing what would be an excellent safety measure for road safety. Extra daylight on those winter afternoons also protects the most vulnerable road users and pedestrians, such as children returning home from school and the elderly."

LARSOA is also drawing attention to other major benefits of introducing Daylight Savings as the country strives to improve its green credentials.

David adds: "We are all being urged to try to reduce our carbon footprint as a matter of urgency and cut down on waste. We may even be forced to pay for our rubbish collection if we don't recycle yet the government seems to be ignoring the environmental benefits of Daylight Savings.

"There would be big savings in energy costs as consumption would be reduced leading to less carbon emissions, which are blamed for global warming. There are also health benefits such as extended outdoor leisure time which promotes health and fitness in the government's agenda to reduce obesity. The tourism industry would benefit from an extended season too."

Tim Yeo's Private Members Bill went before Parliament on a Friday afternoon in January but failed to draw enough MPs back to the House of Commons to vote in favour of the Bill proceeding through Parliament.

David says: "The government says it is committed to reducing deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 40% by 2010. Introducing Double British Summertime would go a long way towards reaching this target."

In effect the UK time would remain at GMT plus one hour and in the spring the clocks would go forward one hour taking us to GMT plus two hours.

ABOUT LARSOA

LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.

LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.

LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .

LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.

The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.