I remember going to school in the 1970's in the dark. The school was fully lit by electricity for most of the morning - as it got lighter, people forgot to turn off the lights. Of course, if the day was overcast and the class room had north facing windows (school ran east-west) they were never switched off. Doesn't seem to me that it saved much fuel at all.

Shortly after that we had the 'switch off' campaign where every light switch in the school had a neat little sticker demanding you switch the light off as you left the building. Wonder whatever happened to that idea?!

As for the accident rates, are you more likely to be inattentive first thing, before the coffee has hit home, or whilst you're still mentally wrapped up in the duvet, or at the end of the day when you're tired from work, your brain is engaged on deciding what to get for dinner or you've had a crappy day?

I don't like the idea of this double daylight savings - I can't see how it will make any difference to accident rates or energy saving at all, particularly in areas where there is almost permanent daylight due to streetlighting, shop lighting and illuminated buildings. Make people turn off their lights when the shop or office is closed, turn off monitors and unused electrical equipment, use low energy bulbs, open windows instead of air conditioning and fans, wear appropriate clothing instead of putting the heater on.... Teach kids AND adults proper road safety - go back to 'wear something white at night', put pedestrian crossings in places where people want to cross, rather than where drivers think they want to, improve and promote clockwork torches and radios.... the possibilities are endless.

LTS