Permanent day light saving time ‘could cut car accidents with animals’

Researchers found permanent daylight saving time could prevent more than 36,000 deer deaths, Mustafa Qadri writes

Moving clocks forward can reduce deer-vehicle collisions by 16 per cent (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Permanent daylight saving time would help reduce the amount of collisions drivers have with animals, a study has found.

Research from the University of Washington School said later sunsets as a result of moving clocks forward could save animal lives and reduce the chances of collisions and injuries.

The first author of the study Calum Cunningham said researchers saw “huge, abrupt shifts in human activity associated with the timing of sunrise and sunset”.

He added: “It got us thinking if humans are responding to clock time, whereas animals are responding to the daylight time, does that then create more opportunities for human-wildlife conflict?”

The team’s analysis suggests that if daylight savings time was all year round, more than 36 thousand deer deaths, two thousand human injuries and 33 human deaths would be prevented in the US.

This would also save $1.19 billion in collision costs annually.

Researchers in the study looked at data from 23 state agencies from the US Department of Transportation and analysed over a million deer-vehicle collisions and 96 million hourly traffic observations across the United States.

Their analysis showed that collisions are 14 times more frequent two hours after sunset compared to before.

They also found that the rate of deer-vehicle collisions increased by 16 per cent the week following the change to standard time.

“It surprised me how striking this pattern was, of how much more likely deer are to get struck in the hour or two after darkness,” Mr Cunningham said. “This one-hour shift in human activity could have such a significant effect.”

The study was published in journal Current Biology.