The role of ambient light level in fatal crashes: inferences from daylight saving time transitions

Sullivan, John M.; Flannagan, Michael J.

doi:10.1016/s0001-4575(01)00046-x

Cited by 208 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Recall that DST alters the risk of a fatal crash in two ways: reallocating ambient light from the morning to the evening; and disrupting sleep schedules. Despite strong evidence suggesting the importance of ambient light in fatal crash risk (Fridstrom et al 1995, Sullivan andFlannagan 2002), the implication for net crashes due to DST remains unclear. DST does not alter the amount of light in a day, it simply reallocates it between the morning and the evening.…”

Section: Daylight Saving Time In the United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes

Smith

2016

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

129

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. Despite mounting evidence that DST fails in its primary goal, some form of Daylight Saving Time is still practiced by over 1.5 billion people globally. In this paper I demonstrate that DST imposes high social costs on Americans, specifically, an increase in fatal automobile crashes. Employing four tests to differentiate between an ambient light or sleep mechanism, I show that this result is most likely due to sleep deprivation caused by the spring transition and the result implies additional costs of DST in terms of lost productivity nationwide.The procedure for DST is well characterized by the phrase "spring-forward, fall-back." Each year on the spring transition date, clocks are moved forward by one hour, from 2 am to 3 am. The process is then reversed for the fall transition with clocks "falling back" from 2 am to 1 am. This alters the relationship between clock time and solar time by an hour, moving sunlight from the morning to the evening (see Figure 1). Although the general concept of DST was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin in a satirical essay in 1784 (Aldridge 1956), it was over a

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Section: Daylight Saving Time In the United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes

Smith

2016

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

129

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“…Analyses of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) have revealed that about 79% of all U.S. traffic collisions occur in low illumination conditions (Owens & Sivak, 1996) and that crashes are 3-7 times more likely at night (Sullivan & Flannagan, 2002). These analyses have also revealed that pedestrians are at particular risk during low illumination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Accuracy of Drivers’ Judgments of the Effects of Headlight Glare: Are We Really Blinded by the Light?

Balk

Tyrrell

2011

Proceedings of the 6th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design : Dr

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Summary: Headlights must balance two conflicting goals: maximizing visibility for the driver and minimizing glare to other drivers. Yet consumer complaints about headlights tend to focus on glare and not on poor visibility -a known casual factor of nighttime roadway crashes. These reactions may help to explain why drivers tend to underuse high beam headlights. This study explored the relationships among objective (impaired visual performance) and subjective (reports of discomfort and participants' judgments of glare-induced visual impairments) consequences of headlight glare. Sixteen participants sat in a vehicle that moved slowly on a closed road and estimated the distance at which they could determine the orientation of a retroreflective Landolt C. Actual recognition distances and reports of glare-induced discomfort were also assessed. Observers' overestimated the extent to which glare degraded their ability to see the target. Participants' estimates of their own acuity decreased significantly when the opposing vehicle used high beams despite the fact that their actual acuity was unaffected. Overall, estimates of the disabling effects of glare were more tightly correlated with subjective reports of glare-induced discomfort than with actual visual performance. These results, which are consistent with psychophysical data obtained in a laboratory setting, may help explain drivers' reluctance to use their high beams. The results also underscore the need to collect data on disability glare, not only discomfort glare, when evaluating new lighting technologies.

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“…The finding of a vulnerability effect for pedestrians is replicated in work using US traffic data by Sullivan and Flannagan 188 . The study analysed a limited set of accident scenarios and the effect of lighting conditions, again using the transition to and from daylight saving time as a natural experimental grouping variable.…”

Section: Light Levels and Conspicuitymentioning

confidence: 67%

Use of conspicuity aids by cyclists and risk of crashes involving other road users: Population based case-control study

Miller

Kendrick

Coupland

et al. 2017

Journal of Transport & Health

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The role of ambient light level in fatal crashes: inferences from daylight saving time transitions

Cited by 208 publications

References 6 publications

Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes

Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes

The Accuracy of Drivers’ Judgments of the Effects of Headlight Glare: Are We Really Blinded by the Light?

Use of conspicuity aids by cyclists and risk of crashes involving other road users: Population based case-control study

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The role of ambient light level in fatal crashes: inferences from daylight saving time transitions

Cited by 208 publications

References 6 publications

Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes

Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes

The Accuracy of Drivers’ Judgments of the Effects of Headlight Glare: Are We Really Blinded by the Light?

Use of conspicuity aids by cyclists and risk of crashes involving other road users: Population based case-control study

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Product

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The Accuracy of Drivers’ Judgments of the Effects of Headlight Glare: Are We Really Blinded by the Light?