The effects of daylight and daylight saving time on US pedestrian fatalities and motor vehicle occupant fatalities.
This paper analyzes the effects of daylight and daylight saving time (DST) on pedestrian and motor vehicle occupant fatalities in the United States. Multivariate analyses of county level data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for 2-week periods in 1998 and 1999 are used. Results show that full year daylight saving time would reduce pedestrian fatalities by 171 per year, or by 13% of all pedestrian fatalities in the 5:00-10.00 a.m. and in the 4:00-9:00 p.m. time periods. Motor vehicle occupant fatalities would be reduced by 195 per year, or 3%, during the same time periods.
Department of Economics, Rutgers University, 360 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark, NJ 07102, USA. coate@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Douglas
D
Coate
Sara
S
Markowitz
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012621:Seasons; D013995:Time; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*