Time the Avenger

Tomorrow, we're going back to Central Standard Time. But while you're setting back clocks and checking on smoke detectors, here's something you don't normally think about.

Come 2 a.m. local time Sunday, standard time returns. That means setting clocks back and an extra hour of sleep.

It also means that pedestrians walking around dusk are nearly three times more likely to be struck and killed by cars than before the time change, the researchers calculate.

The risk for pedestrian deaths at 6 p.m. is by far the highest in November than any other month, the scientists said. The danger declines each month through May.

Fischbeck and Gerard conducted a preliminary study of seven years of federal traffic fatalities and calculated risk per mile walked for pedestrians. They found that per-mile risk jumps 186 percent from October to November, but then drops 21 percent in December.

They said the drop-off by December indicates the risk is caused by the trouble both drivers and pedestrians have adjusting when darkness suddenly comes an hour earlier.

So in addition to it being dark when you wake up and dark when you leave work, you can now add having to worry about getting hit by a car to the list of things not to like about Daylight Savings Time.