IIHS president: Dark roadways are deadly, no matter the time

The twice-yearly time change is not a major factor in America’s ongoing road safety emergency, David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said at a congressional hearing on April 10.

“Whatever you decide to do about the clock, I hope you will also consider actions to keep pedestrians and bicyclists safe, especially after sundown,” Harkey said in written testimony submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which convened the hearing on whether to continue switching back and forth between daylight saving time and standard time every year.

In his remarks, Harkey put the issue in the context of rising crash deaths, which exceeded 42,000 in 2022, up more than 30% since 2014. IIHS is seeking to reverse this trend with its recently launched 30x30 initiative, a vision to reduce crash deaths 30% by 2030.

A recent IIHS study of morning and evening crashes in the weeks surrounding the time change showed that pedestrian fatalities fall while vehicle occupant fatalities rise with the conversion to daylight saving time. When standard time resumes, vehicle occupant deaths drop and pedestrian deaths rise.

Taking both periods into account, the net impact is an annual decrease of 26 crashes with pedestrian or bicyclist fatalities and an annual increase of 29 crashes with vehicle occupant fatalities.

Notably, the fluctuation in pedestrian crash deaths was tied to increases or decreases in the amount of daylight, while there was no clear connection for vehicle occupant fatalities.

“If you are looking for concrete guidance on whether to keep the current twice-yearly time changes, … the evidence does not point definitively one way or another,” Harkey said. “What our study does reinforce is that pedestrians and bicyclists are at greater risk in low light conditions.”

Harkey urged the committee members to focus on solutions known to be effective in combatting that problem.

These solutions include infrastructure improvements like crosswalk lighting, rectangular rapid flashing beacons and pedestrian hybrid beacons. Lower speed limits and other measures to reduce vehicle speeds, such as speed safety cameras and road features that force drivers to slow down, could also play a key role.