HC Deb 02 December 1999 vol 340 cc279-80W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the effect of Daylight Saving on the numbers of road(a) injuries and (b) deaths of children in each year since 1990. [100116]

Mr. Hill

The Department commissioned research into the likely benefits of changing British Summertime to increase the safety benefits of daylight hours. The report by TRL published in 1998 looked essentially at potential casualty reductions if the clocks were set one hour forward in Winter (October to March) and two hours forward in Summer (March to October). This would in effect mean that throughout the year it would be lighter in the evenings and darker in the mornings.

The conclusion was that this might save over 100 deaths per year, and taken together with serious injuries save well over 400 casualties. There are no separate figures pertaining to children.

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