BOULDER, Colo. — Fatal car crashes in the United States spike by 6% during the workweek following the “spring forward” to daylight saving time (DST), according to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder(CU Boulder).
The increase is partially attributed to sleep deprivation, according to the study, which was published in January in the journal Current Biology. It also found that the farther west a person lives in his or her time zone, the higher their risk of a deadly crash that week.
For the study, researchers analyzed 732,835 crashes recorded through the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 1996 to 2017. Data from Arizona and Indiana was excluded because daylight saving time was not consistently observed in those states.
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After controlling for factors like the year, season and day of the week, they found a consistent rise in fatal accidents in the week following the spring time change.
When DST arrives on March 9, clocks shift forward by one hour. That means less sleep for many people and a morning commute in the dark. Both factors can contribute to crashes, the study found.
Over the 22 years of data analyzed, 627 people died in fatal car accidents associated with the spring shift to DST.
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Changes in accident patterns also occur with the fall time change, the study found. There were fewer accidents in the morning and a spike in evening crashes when darkness comes sooner. However, they balanced out, according to the study, and the overall number of crashes remained the same.
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