Lighter mornings in the winter are also better for postal workers and those in construction and farming, who typically begin work much earlier than many others.” “Among other things, this would mean children travelling to and from school in darkness, putting them at greater risk. “One of the main reasons against keeping British Summer Time all year round, which would mean not putting the clocks back in October, concerns people in Scotland, where sunrise might not be until as late as 10am,” says Dr Dunn. Others want to forego turning the clocks back in October. “While we respect the views of those that want to keep the current system, we must not lose sight of the fact that lives are at stake.” Anything we can do to bring these rates down has to be worth it. “And it is vulnerable road users – such as children on their way home from school and cyclists – who would experience the most benefit. Road casualty rates increase with the arrival of darker evenings and worsening weather conditions. During the working week, casualty rates peak at 8am and 10am and 3pm and 7pm, with the afternoon peak being higher. “We know that the clock change kills people. However, our priority now should be the prevention road accidents that cause serious injury and death. This would make it two hours ahead of GMT in the summer and one hour ahead in the winter.Įrrol Taylor, the chief executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said in 2019: “Clock changes were first introduced in 1916 to reflect the needs of a nation at war. Why is there controversy over British Summer Time?Īlthough, no one seems to complain about the aforementioned extra hour in bed in the autumn, some have campaigned for British time to be brought in line with other European countries to reduce accidents. There was an experiment, between 19, which kept clocks one hour ahead of GMT all year round.īritain then reverted to our now familiar system of GMT in the winter and summer time in between March and October. They were also brought forward for periods in the spring of 1947, in line with fuel shortages. Since then, Britain toyed with moving the clocks a number of times, including bringing them forward two hours ahead of GMT during the Second World War. More from Distractionsīritish Summer Time was adopted in Britain in 1916 to save fuel and money. The idea was proposed in Britain by builder William Willett, says Dr Richard Dunn, senior curator for the History of Science at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Moving the clocks forward in the summer months would give us darker mornings but lighter, longer evenings. The campaign for British Summer Time came about at the beginning of the 20th century. Why waste electricity when there is perfectly good daylight to be used? Initially the clocks were changed to save energy and get people outside. That change gives us an extra precious hour of daylight in the dark autumn and winter months, with the added bonus of an extra hour in bed on the Sunday morning when the clocks change. This signals the end of BST, or Daylight Saving Time (DST), and means the UK reverts to GMT until the spring, the standard time zone against which all others in the world are referenced. In autumn the clocks go back again on the final Sunday of October at 2.00am, which means this year they will change on Sunday 30 October, a day earlier than in 2021. The clocks always go forward on the final Sunday of March (Photo: Getty Images)
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