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Safety:
The clocks going back contributes an additional danger, of adapting to driving in the dark at the end of a tiring day.
Analysis of the Government statistics - 'Road Casualties Great Britain 2007' - reveals that whilst the overall figures are lower compared to last year (1211 in October 2006 & 1340 in November 2006), there was an increase in the number of car users killed or seriously injured, from 1006 in October to 1157 in November - a 15 per cent increase. The number of car users killed rose from 122 in October to 142 in November, an increase of 16%. This is compared to a increase in 2006 of 9% over those two months. The overall casualty rate also increased over these two months in 2007 from 46 to 52 compared to an increase from 52 to 56 in 2006. Casualty rate is defined as the number of incidents per 100 million vehicle kilometres If the average number of pedestrians killed over the six months covering the summer period -(March to End of September) is compared to the 6 months from October to February over the winter period, an increase from 274 to 372 or nearly 36 per cent overall can also be observed. This is compared to the increase in 2006 from 339 to 404 over those two months (only 20%). The DfT report also suggests that car users are at most risk of being killed and injured between 4pm and 6 pm on a Friday than at any other time during the week; This has been described by the RAC Foundation as the 'Fatal Friday Phenomenon'. The 2007 figures show that on Fridays:
On any other Week day
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