This is the weekend that to “fall back” as daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. today, so your clocks should be turned back one hour now if you didn’t do it last night.
Fire safety officials suggest checking your home’s smoke detectors, test the alarm and change the battery.
Highway safety officials say the return to standard time means more challenges on the road, so they recommend drivers and pedestrians alike make changes in their daily habits to adjust to reduced visibility caused by sun glare in the morning and earlier darkness in the evening.
“While the extra hour of sleep may be nice, the time change can be deadly for pedestrians,” said Theresa Podguski, director of legislative affairs, AAA East Central.
“Twilight is one of the most challenging times of the day to drive, so extra precautions can go a long way in the weeks ahead.”
The time change can also cause disturbed sleep patterns for drivers, and when combined with the earlier dusk, they can become a formula for drowsy driving and fatigue-related crashes.
Research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has revealed that because it is more difficult to detect following a crash, drowsy driving incidents are nearly eight times more common than federal estimates indicate.
Moreover, researchers at Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University have found that the effects of the time change on motorists have been shown to last up to two weeks following the time change.
“With an increase in deer movement and lower visibility this time of the year, it’s critical to drive alert whenever you’re behind the wheel,” said Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Acting Director Jason Siwula.
“Driving drowsy is an underrated risk with serious consequences.”
Kentucky Today
