(As submitted by Safe Communities of Wood County)
The year is quickly coming to a close, and with that comes the end of Daylight Savings Time. This year the time change occurred on Sunday, November 6th, at 2:00am which means it is getting darker earlier. According to Time, “the loss of an hour of afternoon sunlight when it (DST) ends may increase the likelihood of traffic accidents.” Better light equals better safety, therefore the need for increased attentiveness while driving increases as Daylight Savings Time ends. According to CBC News, “People walking during rush hour in the first few weeks after the clocks fall back in the autumn were more than three times as likely to be fatally struck by cars than before the change.”
Increased attentiveness while driving leads to less fatal accidents. There have been a reported 10 fatal accidents in Wood County this year, down from 24 this time last year. This decrease in fatal accidents could be attributed to the staggering 95% of people who reported regularly wearing their seatbelts this year, post Click It or Ticket survey. According to the AAA Foundation, “seat belts are the single most effective means of reducing the risk of death in a crash and have saved nearly 300,000 lives since 1975 in the U.S. alone.”
Another contribution to the decrease of fatal accidents this year, could be the promotion of drunk driving advocacy and the decrease in alcohol related fatal crashes. 2015 saw a 9.2% decrease in fatal crashes that were alcohol related in Wood County in two years. With the holidays approaching, many people are tempted to drive buzzed. Remember, buzzed driving is drunk driving.
