Move from GMT TO CET could save lives

The national road safety charity Brake has called for a stop to the practice of moving clocks back by an hour at the beginning of autumn.

By adopting the Central European Time (CET), the charity feels lives can be saved.

"The practice of using Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is rooted in tradition, rather than commonsense," said Jools Townsend, head of education at Brake.

"Research shows that switching to CET could save more than 100 lives each year.

"It is unacceptable so many families are torn apart by sudden, violent deaths and injuries on our roads and the government must take bold steps to stop these preventable casualties."

By adopting CET Britain would experience brighter evenings, and although this would come at the expense of darker mornings, it would be lighter at crucial times of the day, reducing accidents.

The peak times for crashes are between 8am and 9am and 3pm and 6pm.

Brake is also advocating more care be taken on the road to reduce injury.

"We're also appealing to drivers to slow down - to 20mph or below around homes and schools - and stay alert for people on foot and bicycle who are so vulnerable at this time of year," concluded Mr Townsend.