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Summertime and the drivin’ is easy? Daylight Saving Time and Vehicle Accidents

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  • Laliotis, I.
  • Moscelli, G.
  • Monastiriotis, V.

Abstract

Although is commonly understood that light conditions affect driving behaviour, detailed evidence is scarce especially for EU countries. In this paper we use the exogenous variation in daylight caused by Daylight Saving Time (DST) shifts to examine the role of light conditions on vehicle accidents. We use a rich dataset from Greek administrative data covering the universe of all types of recorded vehicle accidents over the period between 01 January 2006 to 31 December 2016. Relying on a regression discontinuity design we attempt to provide a causal evaluation regarding the impact of exogenous time shifts on the number of vehicle crashes. Our results are supportive of an ambient light mechanism that reduces the counts of serious vehicle accidents during the Spring transitions and increases the count of minor ones during the Fall transition, especially during the most impacted hours within the day. We discuss the implications of our study both for the importance of light ambience conditions for car accidents and for the particular case of the adoption and preservation of DST policies.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:cty:dpaper:19/14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Laliotis, Ioannis & Stavropoulou, Charitini, 2018. "Crises and mortality: Does the level of unemployment matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 99-109.
    3. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    4. 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.
    5. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2006. "The Log of Gravity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 641-658, November.
    6. 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.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gerard Delanty, 2020. "Six political philosophies in search of a virus: Critical perspectives on the coronavirus pandemic," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 156, European Institute, LSE.
    3. Bob Hancke & Toon Van Overbeke & Dustin Voss, 2021. "Similar but different? Comparing economic policy responses to the Corona Crisis in the UK and Germany," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 165, European Institute, LSE.
    4. Depalo, Domenico, 2023. "Should the Daylight Saving Time be abolished? Evidence from work accidents in Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    5. Mitchell Orenstein & Bojan Bugaric, 2020. "Populism Amidst Prosperity: Work, Family, Fatherland: The Political Economy of Populism in Central and Eastern Europe," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 163, European Institute, LSE.
    6. Lorenzo Codogno & Paul Noord, 2022. "Assessing Next Generation EU," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Luigi Paganetto (ed.), Economic Challenges for Europe After the Pandemic, pages 59-82, Springer.
    7. Tobias Tesche, 2020. "The European Union's response to the coronavirus emergency: an early assessment," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 157, European Institute, LSE.
    8. Dimitry Kochenov, 2020. "Genuine Purity of Blood: The 2019 Report on Investor Citizenship and Residence in the European Union and its Litigious Progeny," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 164, European Institute, LSE.
    9. Nina Lopez Uroz, 2020. "Populism Amidst Prosperity: Poland's Growth Model and its Socio-Political Outcomes," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 159, European Institute, LSE.
    10. Richard Bronk & Wade Jacoby, 2020. "The epistemics of populism and the politics of uncertainty," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 152, European Institute, LSE.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

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