YOUR MOST DANGEROUS DRIVE HOME

“Hello, darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again”

-        Simon & Garfunkel 1964

Yes, daylight saving time is gone again… sooner this year than normal as November 1st is the earliest date for the change allowed by law.  They say we’ve “gained an hour”, but it sure doesn’t feel like that.  And with the shift of clocks back an hour, we’re going to see ever-earlier sunsets and darkness… as early as 4:45 pm this week and 4:21 pm by early December.

That means our evening commutes will be in the dark, presenting new dangers.

A 2025 study in the Journal of Safety Research found fatal pedestrian and cyclist crashes rose 13 percent after the fall time change.  And researchers at Carnegie Mellon say the pedestrian death risk at 6 p.m. in November is 11 times higher than at the same hour in April.

It’s also rutting season for deer, and about three-quarters of deer crashes with cars happen outside daylight.  Connecticut had 417 such incidents from October to December 2023.  Nothing ruins a car quite like hitting 150 pounds of amorous venison.

And don’t even get me started on the “jetlag” we all feel adjusting to the clocks this week.  And that clock on your dashboard… how long will it still think it’s daylight saving time?

As for auto accidents involving other cars, reviewing UConn data from 2020 to 2024, Connecticut crashes in the 5 p.m. hour were 35% higher in November than October.  Pedestrian crashes in that hour were up 147%!

If you must walk at night, wear white.  Or better yet, a reflectorized vest so drivers can see, and hopefully, not hit you.

For senior citizens, night driving always presents problems.  It’s both biological and psychological.

By age 60, our eyes need three times as much light as they did at age 20, because pupils shrink and don’t open as wide in the dark.   A 60-year-old also takes more than twice as long as a teenager to adjust from light to darkness.

Seniors already reluctant to drive at night are now less likely to go out for dinner or evening events if they don’t feel safe on the roads.  You may think of the “early bird special” as a dining bargain.  Seniors think of it more like a curfew.

One of the biggest problems for drivers of any age, as I wrote about last year, is the glare of oncoming headlights.  There are several reasons that headlights appear so bright. 

The first is that the headlights may not be properly aligned, aiming too high, right into your eyes.  And with more vehicles riding higher from the road (think SUVs and trucks), their headlights shine more directly into oncoming traffic.

Most problematic are the new kinds of headlights.  The older incandescent (yellowish) lightbulbs are being replaced by LED or xenon lights, which are blue-white and more glaring to your eyes.

Oncoming headlights, especially the bluish ones, cause the pupils in your eyes to constrict rapidly, temporarily blinding you until the oncoming vehicle passes and your eyes adjust.

What can you do to stay safe? 

When bright lights come at you, don’t look into the oncoming beam.  Instead, look to the right edge line of the roadway (a.k.a. the “fog line”).  Flip your rear-view mirror to its night setting, or use an auto-dimming mirror.   Most of all, slow down!  Being blinded on darkened roads, especially if they are coated with wet slippery leaves, is dangerous.

So hang in there, fellow motorists.  It’s only about 130 days (and long nights) ‘til we change the clocks again.