Pushing clocks back Down Under does not increase road traffic accidents

As Australia moves to ST, losing an hour of light at the end of the day, a study suggests there is no evidence that the time change increases road accidents. This Sunday marks the end of -Daylight Saving Time- (DST) in eastern Australia as states revert to -Standard Time- (ST) losing one hour of light at the end of the day. It's an event many would like to see come to end, claiming that the bi-annual changing clocks ritual poses a health hazard, increasing road accidents and hospitalisations. Yet a new study from economists at the University of Bath argues there is no evidence for this claim. Instead, the researchers suggest, the transition between DST and ST merely spreads accidents at different points throughout the day - there is no overall net increase, even if collision risks are higher at night. Drawing on extensive administrative data on road traffic collisions over 27 years (from January 1989 to December 2015), comprising over 40,000 fatal road collisions, the researcher tested effects of DST by comparing annual time changes and one-off events, for example when DST was extended for the Sydney Olympics. This provided comparison data: some calendar days which were subject to DST and some which were not.