AUTO ACCIDENTS: WHEN THE CLOCKS FALL BACK | Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer

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By Jason Epstein

If you haven’t already, I suggest you take a look at my recent article, “Straight Talk Law: Less Daylight, More Auto Accidents.”

While it’s great to get that extra hour of sleep when Daylight Savings Time ends, as it recently did, few people think about the danger on the roads when, at commuting time, it’s suddenly dark instead of light. As a personal injury lawyer in Seattle, Washington, I know from experience that the chance of auto accidents suddenly increases by at least 5 to 6%.

As I noted in the article, pedestrians at dusk are three times more likely to be hit by a car after the time change. Studies, by the way, also show that it isn’t the pedestrians’ fault – it’s generally because the driver hasn’t adjusted to the darker conditions on the road. In other words, they’re used to driving when it’s light –and they forget to watch more carefully for things that are suddenly much more difficult to see.

(This isn’t just an American problem, by the way – an insurance company overseas estimated auto accidents in Britain went up 11% immediately after the clocks fell back.)

It’s human nature to get into comfortable patterns, especially when we repeat tasks on a daily basis. But, when we lose that hour of light at the end of the day, we need to take more precautions when driving – or crossing the road as a pedestrian. That extra care could help you avoid personal injury or a wrongful death situation.

There are also a few precautions drivers can take to maximize safety when driving at night:

Dim your dashboard lights, if possible. They can distract from what’s happening outside your car.
Clean your windshields. Dirty glass will intensify glare at night.
Look away from incoming headlights – they can blind. Try to concentrate on the white line in the center of the road.
Get your eyes checked regularly. As you get older, night vision becomes more limited – and you need the sharpest eyesight you can have via contact lens or glasses.

For more free “Straight Talk Law” information, please visit my website at www.straighttalklaw.com , where you can order free books on Washington auto and motorcycle accidents, auto insurance, and other valuable legal information, offered as a public service by myself and my law practice in Seattle, Washington.

This blog is provided by www.straighttalklaw.com, where you can order free books on Washington auto accidents, auto insurance, and other valuable legal information, offered as a public service by Jason Epstein and his law practice Premiere Law Group in Seattle, Washington.