Clocks should be going forward, not back to save lives on UK roads

The Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association (LARSOA) says that this weekend's move to put the clocks back will cost over 100 lives on UK roads between now and April.

At 1am this Sunday (28 th October) the clocks will be turned back one hour plunging the country into darkness during the afternoon and evening rush hour. LARSOA is campaigning to move time forward throughout the year so there is an extra hour of daylight during the afternoon in winter months. This move would save lives, reduce the UK's greenhouse gas emissions and cut average household energy bills.

LARSOA spokespeople will be available during the week for interviews on the issue. For interview bids please contact Chris Taylor on 07949 287 356.

Road casualty figures released earlier this year showed an alarming increase in deaths among child pedestrians and child cyclists in 2006 and LARSOA fears that figure may continue to rise as we approach the most dangerous time of the year for vulnerable road users.

The Association says research proves many lives could be saved and injuries prevented by allowing an extra hour of daylight at the time of day when many people are returning home from school and work.

David Frost from LARSOA explains: "There could be as many as 104 fewer deaths each year. The figures also show that there would around 450 fewer serious injuries on the roads.

"By introducing the system of Double British Summertime, the government could go a long way to hitting its target of reducing deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 40% by 2010.

"Extra daylight on winter afternoons would protect the most vulnerable road users, cyclists and pedestrians such as children returning home from school and the elderly, who are often afraid of being out after dark."

"We can't ignore the fact that last year 169 children died on the roads and the combined numbers of those killed and seriously injured was 3,294 - that's nine children seriously hurt or killed for during every single day of the year."

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 during the summer. The call from LARSOA on safety grounds also has green credentials.

It has been backed up by a new report from Elizabeth Garnsey, a reader in engineering and business at Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing, which has looked at the energy savings that could be created by moving to Double British Summertime. Her report found that the darker evenings cause domestic consumers to use 5% extra electricity, which generates millions of tones of carbon dioxide. It also found that the NHS would save £200million a year in treating injuries associated with daytime darkness.

LARSOA is also promoting the other benefits of Double British Summertime including health benefits and energy saving measures. David adds: "An extended outdoor leisure time when there are relatively few daylight hours would give more people time to take exercise and help the government in its campaign to reduce obesity.

"If the government wants to cut obesity, particularly among young people, where the rates are growing rapidly, then it needs to consider ensuring they have time to pursue outdoor sports after school hours.

"There would also be considerable savings in energy costs as consumption would be reduced because of the extra daylight hour.

For further information please contact Chris Taylor on 01287 610404 or 07949 287 356.

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.