Ever wished it could be summer all year long? Well soon it could, following the publication of a report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee recommending that we no longer put back the clocks for winter.
Their logic appears to be that lots of people – pedestrians in particular – are injured due to a seasonal surge in accidents in October and November – and that this is not necessarily a good thing.
“The end of British Summer Time appears to be a significant factor,” the report says, noting that “the period immediately after the clocks go back is more dangerous for road travel, even compared to other dark months such as January.”
The statistics also show that far more people are injured in the late afternoon and evening than in the morning.
Abolishing winter time is likely to be popular with drivers of most motor vehicles, making the evenings lighter longer and easing the transition into total wintry gloom. But, of course, it will never happen due to stiff resistance from drivers of mud-spattered quad bikes, tractors, Landrovers and other farm vehicles.
The case for making the change is bolstered by the outcome of an experiment carried out in the 1970s which appeared to show a fall in accidents involving pedestrians – and in particular children walking home from school – thanks to an extra hour of light at the end of the day.
But even summertime all year isn’t good enough for The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, who argue for something called “single double summer time” which would provide one hour’s additional daylight in summer and two in winter – sure to get the tractor men seething.
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