Revealed: why changing time zones would not boost road safety

Study finds little evidence to back calls for move to Central European Time, RSA expert reports

THE debate on whether Ireland should move to Central European Time (CET) has rumbled on without any definitive research undertaken on its benefits for road safety – until now.

A report commissioned by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) examined the potential impact a move to Central European Time (CET) would have on road safety here.

It will now hopefully serve to inform any discussion on the topic.

Some public representatives have proposed in the past that Ireland should move to CET for a trial period, suggesting such a change would have a positive impact on road safety.

These individuals are to be commended for spearheading this initiative and stimulating debate on the issue. The RSA is in the business of keeping road users safe and, as such, welcomes any proposal that could potentially lower the number of road traffic collisions in Ireland, which would, in turn, save lives.

However, a proposal like this, which would have such a monumental impact on various aspects of people’s lives, particularly in business, should be subject to the highest levels of analysis and public scrutiny.

Careful examination of the facts are needed to ensure a move to CET would in fact have a positive effect on road safety.

It is for this reason that the RSA commissioned a report on the issue, and having carefully reviewed the outcomes of the research undertaken, we are for the first time in a better position to contribute to the debate on the issue.

Much of the relevant research available comes from papers that have investigated the impact of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on road traffic outcomes.

The report, compiled by NUI Galway psychologists Dr Kiran Sarma and Dr Rachel Carey, presents the findings of the first systematic review of this evidence-base.

The picture that emerged is complex. It found that the effects of DST are likely to be small and potentially negative or positive depending on the time of year or day. The effect is also likely to vary across different road users.

Overall, the evidence from the review was inconclusive and so cannot be used to support a move to CET.

The researchers also completed the first authoritative investigation of road traffic collisions in Ireland that occurred around DST transitions.

Here again the report found that simple comparisons of collisions and casualties pre and posttransition do not conclusively indicate that DST offers a road safety benefit. So, these analyses do not provide strong evidence of a potential benefit to road safety of a move to CET.

In both cases, of course, it is entirely possible that other factors may have obscured the results, and this strikes at the heart of the difficulty with the proposed move to CET.

The proposal takes a ‘uni-factor’ or single approach to crashprevention, one that the World Health Organisation has warned against. The focus of such an approach tends to turn to any one of the multiple factors that contribute to road traffic collisions, often to the exclusion of other factors.

As the report notes, it may appear logical to anticipate that a move to CET would have a positive impact on road safety here but in reality the casual factors for road traffic collisions are varied and interact in complex ways.

Even if a pilot study were to be run, there are big challenges with measuring the impact CET on road safety, with multiple competing explanations for any patterns that may emerge.

Having considered all of the evidence available, the RSA report found that there is no conclusive evidence that a year round move to CET would have a beneficial impact on driving safety in Ireland.

Based on the report’s findings, the RSA cannot support, on road safety grounds a move to CET. And it also would be unlikely that a pilot period would provide conclusive evidence as to the impact on road safety either.