Study ties time shift, pedestrian deaths

[superconnected]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - After clocks are turned back this weekend, pedestrians walking during the evening rush hour are nearly three times more likely to be struck and killed by cars than before the time change, two scientists calculate.

Ending daylight savings time translates into about 37 more U.S. pedestrian deaths around 6 p.m. in November compared to October, the researchers report. Their study of risk to pedestrians is preliminary, but confirms previous findings of higher deaths after clocks are set back in fall.

It's not the darkness itself, but the adjustment to earlier nighttime that's the killer, said professors Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard, both of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Fischbeck, who regularly walks with his 4-year-old twins around 6 p.m., is worried enough that he'll be more cautious starting Monday.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_on_sc/time_change_accidents

[kestrel91316]

1. Don't blame the pedestrians. Blame the careless and aggressive

drivers who remain either blissfully unaware that they need to share the road, or just don't give a damn.

[Quantess]

2. I support staying with year round daylight savings time.

Here's just one more good reason. Let's stop messing with the clocks and stick to a time. One or the other.