As millions prepare for
British Summer Time, RoSPA is urging every member of the UK to “see the
light” ahead of Scotland's independence
referendum.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has
lobbied for lighter evenings for decades in a bid to cut the number of people
killed or seriously hurt on our roads.
The charity’s chief
executive Tom Mullarkey is using this Sunday's (March 30) switch to British
Summer Time (GMT+1) to appeal for an extra hour of evening daylight throughout
the year - regardless of the outcome of Scotland’s independence
referendum in the autumn.
Research commissioned by the
Department for Transport shows that about 80 deaths and at least 200 serious
injuries would be prevented on our roads each year if the UK switched
to Single/Double Summer
Time (SDST: GMT+1 in winter / GMT+2 in summer).
Tom Mullarkey said: “If
Scotland votes 'Yes' in September, then it’s only right that it
should choose its own time zone. RoSPA would then urge the Scottish people to
change to SDST, because all the evidence shows that Scotland would be the
British Isles’ biggest beneficiary.
“If Scotland votes
'No', we would encourage all of the Home Nations to develop a unified
approach to what’s in the best interests of everybody.
“This is a campaign that
has been affected by regional divisions in the past. But it needn't be,
because it's a move that would benefit everyone - Scotland more
so.”
A report by Dr Mayer Hillman, of the Policy Studies
Institute at the University of Westminster, found that an extra hour of evening
daylight would benefit Scotland more than any other part of the UK because of
the limited number of daylight hours it enjoys in the winter - with parts of
the country receiving as little light as some places in the Arctic
Circle.
By better aligning waking hours
with available daylight hours, adults in nine-to-five employment in Scotland
would enjoy almost 300 extra hours of light per year. For children in Scotland,
there would be an annual increase of about 200 light hours.
Other benefits of lighter
evenings - across the UK - would include:
- Cutting CO2 emissions by 447,000
tonnes a year by reducing the need for electric lighting in the
evenings
- Providing a £3.5bn boost
to British leisure and tourism, creating up to 80,000 new jobs in the
sector
- Addressing levels of obesity by
allowing for more outdoor sport in the evenings
- Relieving the symptoms of
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and similar conditions
- Reducing crime and the fear of
crime (especially among the elderly).
RoSPA is encouraging the public
to make sure that the UK’s decision-makers are persuaded of the
drive’s popularity by clicking on its big, red “Support Our Campaign”
button.
More than 45,000 members of the
public signed up to the Lighter Later campaign during the passage of Rebecca
Harris’s Bill in 2012. Nearly 22,000 individually written emails were
sent to MPs urging them to vote in favour. One hundred and forty six of the 160
MPs present at the final stage voted to progress the debate. Yet the Bill still
failed, thanks to the efforts of just 10 MPs.