RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

January 8, 2007
URGE YOUR MP TO VOTE FOR LIGHTER EVENINGS TO SAVE LIVES

RoSPA is urging people to seek their MP’s support for a Bill coming before Parliament this month which would bring lighter evenings all year round and save hundreds of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said there would be other major benefits for the country if the proposal to move time forward by one hour throughout the year was approved.

Tim Yeo’s Private Members Bill goes before the House of Commons on Friday, January 26, and will need 100 MPs to be present if it is to be taken forward to the committee stage and have any chance of becoming law.

Kevin Clinton, RoSPA Head of Road Safety, said: “RoSPA has led a long campaign to bring lighter evenings to Britain because the system would save about 100 lives and prevent 300 serious injuries annually.

“Mr Yeo’s Bill is the opportunity to implement changes which will protect our most vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, children and the elderly who are more at risk during dark evenings. Every autumn when the clocks go back we see an increase in road deaths and injuries and these proposals could stop that from happening.

“It is vital that people contact their MPs expressing their support and urging them to be at the vote so that we can be sure the Bill moves to the next stage.

“Opinion polls have consistently shown widespread public backing for the idea and the Government accepts the road safety case. But there are also benefits for health, business and the environment to be reaped from being one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time in the winter and two hours ahead in the summer.”

An extra hour of daylight would increase opportunities for outdoor activity, in turn promoting fitness and health, supporting the Department for Health’s work to reduce childhood obesity.

The change would help UK companies working or competing in Europe to utilise fully the working day. It would enable the tourism industry to extend its season, increasing tourism-related earnings by an estimated £2billion, helping to achieve the Government’s ambition for the industry to hit a target of £100billion by 2010.

Environmental benefits would come from a better alignment of waking hours with daylight hours, saving energy costs and reducing the UK’s overall energy consumption and emissions – vital in the fight against global warming.