BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – As daylight saving time approaches this weekend, safety officials are warning that losing one hour of sleep can affect both road safety and home preparedness.
AAA Northern New England Public Affairs Specialist Suzanne Grace said the time change disrupts more than just sleep schedules.
“We not only are losing an hour of sleep that can really mess with our internal clock, but also our mornings are going to be dark again, so it impedes our visibility, so we are having difficulty seeing pedestrians and children waiting for their school buses,” Grace said.
Research from the University of Colorado Boulder shows fatal crashes rise 6% in the week following the daylight saving time change. Data from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety Research shows drowsy driving accounts for 18% of all fatal crashes between 2017 and 2021.
Grace said sleep deprivation can be as dangerous as alcohol impairment behind the wheel.
“If you have had less than four hours of sleep then your risk of being in a crash is the same if you were impaired from alcohol,” Grace said.
The American Red Cross is also urging residents to use the clock change as a reminder to test smoke alarms and clear them of dust that can accumulate from winter heating.
“Your smoke detectors — even if they are young smoke detectors — installed recently — they could be malfunctioning,” said Lyndsey Morin of the American Red Cross. “If you test it — it blows a puff of air out of it and cleans out all the dust and smoke if you are cooking near them. It’s just really important to make sure they are functioning.”
