AAA is urging drivers to use caution after this weekend’s time change.
As we “Spring Forward” to Daylight Saving Time Sunday morning, AAA reminds drivers to stay focused behind the wheel.
While the time change means more light in the evenings, it also means darker roads and pedestrian dangers in the mornings.
"The morning commute will be darker. That's a challenge for pedestrians, as we've seen in recent years, according to the Governor's Highway Safety Association that nearly 78% of pedestrian fatalities happen in the dark," said AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Jana Tidwell.
Those morning pedestrians are usually school-aged kids either walking to school or a school bus stop.
The time change also means we technically lose an hour of sleep Saturday night. Tidwell notes it can take some people a few weeks to adjust - leading to drowsy driving.
"Drowsy driving has been compared to drunk driving in a way that means it is just as serious as drunk driving. Getting behind the wheel when you are less alert, you are unable to react as quickly as you typically would if you were not feeling tired, is a risk, not just to you as a motorist, but a risk to all road users."
AAA says research found that 18% of all traffic fatalities between 2017 and 2021 were estimated to involve a drowsy driver.
That accounted for nearly 30,000 deaths with 6,725 lives lost in drowsy driving crashes in 2021.
Drivers are also reminded to get enough sleep before driving, aiming for at least seven hours of sleep, and if you start to feel tired, you should listen to your body and pull over and take a break.
