Lighter evenings for longer under SDST proposal
Life-saving Single Double Summer Time moves closer
THE Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) reports that all three major political parties – Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats – are considering a system to give the UK lighter evenings as we head towards a General Election on May 06.
Recent comments made by the political parties prove that the road safety, environmental and economic benefits of a move to Single Double Summer Time (SDST) have been accepted at the highest level, says the safety charity.
SDST has the potential to save lives on the road, decrease serious road injuries, and provide environmental benefits thanks to reduced requirements for lighting.
RoSPA urges that such support is now translated into policy in the parties’ manifestos for the forthcoming General Election – on 06 May.
Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA chief executive, commented: “RoSPA has called for around 60 years for a change to how the UK uses its hours of daylight. A move to SDST would prevent needless road deaths and injuries across the country.
“We are thrilled that, after many decades, this issue is finally coming off the shelf and the parties are working together to achieve consensus. There is so much for the UK to gain from this move and we hope the political parties will take the crucial step of including it in their manifestos. There is a real opportunity for our leaders in the next Parliament to make an easy decision that would make us healthier, safer, greener and wealthier.”
SDST would put the clocks one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in winter and two hours ahead of GMT in summer. The most recent research has found that a move to SDST could reduce road deaths by around 80 per year and serious injuries by around 212 per year.
The economic and leisure benefits of an extra hour of evening daylight has been well documented, as is the energy saving potential.
Editor’s note: SDST is something this magazine actively supports. You can register your support for SDST here: www.rospa.com/About/CurrentCampaigns/lighter-evenings.
And also here at 10:10 Lighter Later: www.lighterlater.org.
What is SDST?
- Clocks one hour ahead of GMT in the winter
- Clocks two hours ahead of GMT in the summer
