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A leading safety group is urging MPs to scrap the UK's daylight saving time system, which brings lighter mornings in the winter but could cause hundreds of extra deaths on UK roads every year.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) claims 450 deaths and serious injuries could be prevented if MPs support a Private Members' Bill when it receives its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.

The Bill says turning back UK clocks at the end of October creates darker evenings when motorists are more likely to be involved in accidents and people killed as a result.

Official fatality figures show that when the clocks were turned back in 2003, road deaths rose from 256 in October to 316 in November - including a 50% jump in pedestrian deaths, which rose to 95.

Winter mornings would be darker as a result of the proposed change, but Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said: 'There may be more casualties on winter mornings, but these would be outweighed by the reduction in deaths and injuries in the evenings.'

The move, which would bring the UK into line with most of Europe, is being put forward by Labour MP Nigel Beard.

Although Beard suggests that Northern Ireland and Scotland should be free to set their own time, RoSPA believes a common system for the country as a whole would bring the biggest improvement in road

Interesting article on Sky news:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/xml/article/0,,40000-211431,00.html




So people not heard of wearing light clothes, fluorescent jackets? Remember they experimented this when I was a kid. I remember lot of kids getting KILLED on way to school on many a dark morning.

I also remember ADVERTS on the telly about BEING SEEN and a big campaign to make use all wear fluorescent kagouls. I had one - horrid orange colour.

Carry pocket torch as I cross roads in winter months and wear light coloured scarf and gloves. Same with our kids - fluorescent jacket or armband.

Tis called "common sense!" Gonna be dark at some point in winter whatever we do with the clocks!



Really? So they don't change their times as well? Course they do! Would no make one iota of difference in reality.....One season of BST throughout winter, new BST in summer.... and BST as it is now in winter was laft daft one I heard.....

What do we mean by "daylight saving" time? As a Sassenach living in the English midlands, I notice no benefit from reverting to GMT in the winter. Much rather have the "extra" hour of daylight later in the day.

BST Scotland - Highlands would not see much daylight throughout winter at all

Anyone from Ross-shire care to comment?

I haven't got much of an opinion on the matter. Seems to me that 5 or 6 hours of daylight is five or six hours of daylight whatever the clocks say.

It's probably more significant when kids are going to and from schools in big cities.

Still, it'd be nice to see a chart of daylight by hour by day of year for a few spot locations (London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Inverness.)

One thing is certain - we will never change the tilt and spin of the earth.

24 hours in a day - and number of daylight hours will not change.

As for kids going to school in the dark. Would it be too difficult to change the school start time?

A 9.45 or 10 am start time would cause a lot of problems for working parents.

Or maybe we could change the working day as well.

In these enlightened days of family friendly policies why not?

Um - and business in global economy occurs when?

10 am start and school day is about 6 hours duration - so .. they would still be coming home in the dark....