Year-round daylight saving and serious or fatal road traffic injuries in children in the north-east of England

Abstract

Background: It has been suggested that year-round daylight saving would reduce road traffic injuries. Methods and results: Using 15 years of police data from north-east England, we estimate that 6.9 (95 per cent CI 1.5-12.6) fewer serious or fatal road traffic injuries to child pedestrians would have occurred in this area over this period had year-round daylight saving operated (equivalent to 0.5 per year). Conclusion: The results suggest that operating daylight saving year-round would have a small but tangible effect on the number of serious and fatal road traffic injuries in children in this area. Further work is required to assess the community wide impact of year round daylight saving. © The Author 2005, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved.