IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/restat/v103y2021i1p165-176.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spring Forward, Don't Fall Back: The Effect of Daylight Saving Time on Road Safety

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Bünnings

    (FOM University of Applied Sciences and RWI - Leibniz-Institute for Economic Research)

  • Valentin Schiele

    (Paderborn University)

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the effect of light conditions on road accidents and estimate the long-run consequences of different time regimes for road safety. Identification is based on variation in light conditions induced by differences in sunrise and sunset times across space and time. We estimate that darkness causes annual costs of more than £500 million in Great Britain. By setting daylight saving time year-round, 8% of these costs could be saved. Thus, focusing solely on the short-run costs related to the transition itself underestimates the total costs of the current time regime.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Bünnings & Valentin Schiele, 2021. "Spring Forward, Don't Fall Back: The Effect of Daylight Saving Time on Road Safety," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(1), pages 165-176, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:103:y:2021:i:1:p:165-176
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/rest_a_00873
    Download Restriction: Access to PDF is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa A. Kramer & Mark J. Kamstra & Maurice D. Levi, 2000. "Losing Sleep at the Market: The Daylight Saving Anomaly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 1005-1011, September.
    2. Krarti, Moncef & Hajiah, Ali, 2011. "Analysis of impact of daylight time savings on energy use of buildings in Kuwait," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2319-2329, May.
    3. Wolff, Hendrik & Makino, Momoe, 2012. "Extending Becker's Time Allocation Theory to Model Continuous Time Blocks: Evidence from Daylight Saving Time," IZA Discussion Papers 6787, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Toro, Weily & Tigre, Robson & Sampaio, Breno, 2015. "Daylight Saving Time and incidence of myocardial infarction: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-4.
    5. Russell Gregory‐Allen & Ben Jacobsen & Wessel Marquering, 2010. "The Daylight Saving Time Anomaly In Stock Returns: Fact Or Fiction?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 33(4), pages 403-427, December.
    6. Herber, Stefanie P. & Quis, Johanna Sophie & Heineck, Guido, 2017. "Does the transition into daylight saving time affect students’ performance?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 130-139.
    7. Daniel Kuehnle & Christoph Wunder, 2016. "Using the Life Satisfaction Approach to Value Daylight Savings Time Transitions: Evidence from Britain and Germany," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 2293-2323, December.
    8. Tomas Havranek & Dominik Herman & Zuzana Irsova, 2018. "Does Daylight Saving Save Electricity? A Meta-Analysis," The Energy Journal, , vol. 39(2), pages 35-61, March.
    9. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell & Roc ́ıo Titiunik, 2017. "rdrobust: Software for regression-discontinuity designs," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 17(2), pages 372-404, June.
    10. Jin, Lawrence & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2015. "Does Daylight Saving Time Really Make Us Sick?," IZA Discussion Papers 9088, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Kellogg, Ryan & Wolff, Hendrik, 2008. "Daylight time and energy: Evidence from an Australian experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 207-220, November.
    12. Aries, Myriam B.C. & Newsham, Guy R., 2008. "Effect of daylight saving time on lighting energy use: A literature review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1858-1866, June.
    13. Austin C. Smith, 2016. "Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 65-91, April.
    14. Matthew J. Kotchen & Laura E. Grant, 2011. "Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Indiana," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1172-1185, November.
    15. Sood Neeraj & Ghosh Arkadipta, 2007. "The Short and Long Run Effects of Daylight Saving Time on Fatal Automobile Crashes," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-22, February.
    16. Awad Momani, Mohammad & Yatim, Baharudin & Ali, Mohd Alauddin Mohd, 2009. "The impact of the daylight saving time on electricity consumption--A case study from Jordan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 2042-2051, May.
    17. Ferguson, S.A. & Preusser, D.F. & Lund, A.K. & Zador, P.L. & Ulmer, R.G., 1995. "Daylight saving time and motor vehicle crashes: The reduction in pedestrian and vehicle occupant fatalities," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 85(1), pages 92-96.
    18. William Greene, 2004. "The behaviour of the maximum likelihood estimator of limited dependent variable models in the presence of fixed effects," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 7(1), pages 98-119, June.
    19. Baltagi, Badi H., 2015. "The Oxford Handbook of Panel Data," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199940042.
    20. Jennifer L. Doleac & Nicholas J. Sanders, 2015. "Under the Cover of Darkness: How Ambient Light Influences Criminal Activity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1093-1103, December.
    21. Jin, Lawrence & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2020. "Sleep, health, and human capital: Evidence from daylight saving time," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 174-192.
    22. Sexton, Alison L. & Beatty, Timothy K.M., 2014. "Behavioral responses to Daylight Savings Time," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 290-307.
    23. Kountouris, Yiannis & Remoundou, Kyriaki, 2014. "About time: Daylight Saving Time transition and individual well-being," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 100-103.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joan Costa‐Font & Sarah Fleche & Ricardo Pagan, 2024. "The welfare effects of time reallocation: evidence from Daylight Saving Time," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(362), pages 547-568, April.
    2. Kudela, Peter & Havranek, Tomas & Herman, Dominik & Irsova, Zuzana, 2020. "Does daylight saving time save electricity? Evidence from Slovakia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Marco Francesconi & Jonathan James, 2022. "Alcohol Price Floors and Externalities: The Case of Fatal Road Crashes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 1118-1156, September.
    4. Jelnov, Pavel, 2021. "Sunset Long Shadows: Time, Crime, and Perception of Change," IZA Discussion Papers 14770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Depalo, Domenico, 2023. "Should the Daylight Saving Time be abolished? Evidence from work accidents in Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. Laliotis, I. & Moscelli, G. & Monastiriotis, V., 2019. "Summertime and the drivin’ is easy? Daylight Saving Time and Vehicle Accidents," Working Papers 19/14, Department of Economics, City University London.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jonathan James, 2023. "Let there be light: Daylight saving time and road traffic collisions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(3), pages 523-545, July.
    2. Tomas Havranek & Dominik Herman & Zuzana Irsova, 2018. "Does Daylight Saving Save Electricity? A Meta-Analysis," The Energy Journal, , vol. 39(2), pages 35-61, March.
    3. Guven, Cahit & Yuan, Haishan & Zhang, Quanda & Aksakalli, Vural, 2021. "When does daylight saving time save electricity? Weather and air-conditioning," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Kudela, Peter & Havranek, Tomas & Herman, Dominik & Irsova, Zuzana, 2020. "Does daylight saving time save electricity? Evidence from Slovakia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    5. Jin, L. & Ziebarth, N.R., 2015. "Sleep and Human Capital: Evidence from Daylight Saving Time," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/27, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    6. Eric Jonathon Osborne‐Christenson, 2022. "Saving light, losing lives: How daylight saving time impacts deaths from suicide and substance abuse," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(S2), pages 40-68, October.
    7. Nicholas Rivers, 2018. "Does Daylight Savings Time Save Energy? Evidence from Ontario," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(2), pages 517-543, June.
    8. Hugo Salas & Pedro Ignacio Hancevic, 2023. "The unexpected effects of daylight-saving time: Traffic accidents in Mexican municipalities," EconoQuantum, Revista de Economia y Finanzas, Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Economico Administrativas, Departamento de Metodos Cuantitativos y Maestria en Economia., vol. 20(1), pages 1-29, Enero-Jun.
    9. Herber, Stefanie P. & Quis, Johanna Sophie & Heineck, Guido, 2017. "Does the transition into daylight saving time affect students’ performance?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 130-139.
    10. Havranek, Tomas & Herman, Dominik & Irsova, Zuzana, 2016. "Does Daylight Saving Save Energy? A Meta-Analysis," MPRA Paper 74518, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Jin, Lawrence & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2015. "Does Daylight Saving Time Really Make Us Sick?," IZA Discussion Papers 9088, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Joan Costa‐Font & Sarah Fleche & Ricardo Pagan, 2024. "The welfare effects of time reallocation: evidence from Daylight Saving Time," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(362), pages 547-568, April.
    13. López, Miguel, 2020. "Daylight effect on the electricity demand in Spain and assessment of Daylight Saving Time policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    14. Jelnov, Pavel, 2021. "Sunset Long Shadows: Time, Crime, and Perception of Change," IZA Discussion Papers 14770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Osea Giuntella & Wei Han & Fabrizio Mazzonna, 2017. "Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Cognitive Skills: Evidence From an Unsleeping Giant," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(5), pages 1715-1742, October.
    16. Jin, Lawrence & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2020. "Sleep, health, and human capital: Evidence from daylight saving time," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 174-192.
    17. Flores, Daniel & Luna, Edgar M., 2019. "An econometric evaluation of daylight saving time in Mexico," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    18. Choi, Seungmoon & Pellen, Alistair & Masson, Virginie, 2017. "How does daylight saving time affect electricity demand? An answer using aggregate data from a natural experiment in Western Australia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 247-260.
    19. Hancevic, Pedro & Margulis, Diego, 2016. "Daylight saving time and energy consumption: The case of Argentina," MPRA Paper 80481, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Felix Weinhardt, 2013. "The Importance of Time Zone Assignment: Evidence from Residential Electricity Consumption," SERC Discussion Papers serddp0126, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Spring Forward, Don't Fall Back: The Effect of Daylight Saving Time on Road Safety (REStat 2021) in ReplicationWiki

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:103:y:2021:i:1:p:165-176. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kelly McDougall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.