Summertime and the Drivin’ is Easy? Daylight Saving Time and Vehicle Accidents

LSE ‘Europe in Question’ Discussion Paper Series, LEQS Paper No. 150/2019

47 Pages Posted: 4 Mar 2020

See all articles by Ioannis Laliotis

Ioannis Laliotis

University of Surrey

Giuseppe Moscelli

University of Surrey

Vassilis Monastiriotis

European Institute, LSE

Date Written: December 31, 2019

Abstract

Although it is commonly understood that light conditions affect driving behavior, 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 data-set from Greek administrative data covering the universe of all types of recorded vehicle accidents over the period between 01 January 2006 to 32 December 2016. Relying on a regression discontinuity design we attempt to provide a casual 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 on 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 ambiance conditions for car accidents and for the particular case of the adoption and preservation of DST policies.

Keywords: Dst, Driving Behavior, Vehicle Accidents Greece

JEL Classification: I12, I18, R41

Suggested Citation

Laliotis, Ioannis and Moscelli, Giuseppe and Monastiriotis, Vassilis, Summertime and the Drivin’ is Easy? Daylight Saving Time and Vehicle Accidents (December 31, 2019). LSE ‘Europe in Question’ Discussion Paper Series, LEQS Paper No. 150/2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3530951 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3530951

Ioannis Laliotis (Contact Author)

University of Surrey ( email )

Guildford
Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH
United Kingdom

Giuseppe Moscelli

University of Surrey

Vassilis Monastiriotis

European Institute, LSE ( email )

Houghton Street
WC2A 2AE London, London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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