Over 70% of motorists opposed to clocks going back

THIS SUNDAY sees the UK revert to Greenwich Mean Time from British Standard Time but seven in ten motorists believe the practice should be abandoned, according to new research.

The poll, conducted by Smart Witness, also revealed that 60% of drivers thought lives could be saved by remaining on GMT throughout the year. The main opposition to the clocks going back is that it means children are forced to return home from school in darker afternoons.

Statistics provided by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) from 2011 show that pedestrian deaths rose from 25 in September to 34 in October, 48 in November and up to 65 in December.

In 2009 the Department of Transport also published a paper that confirmed that moving to lighter evenings would prevent about 80 deaths on the road a year, and would be cheap to implement.

RoSPA also suggested replacing British Standard Time with a new system called Single Double British Summertime which is GMT + 2 hours in summer (March to October) and GMT + 1 hours from October to March.

Smart Witness managing director Simon Marsh said: "The findings from the survey were very clear: the vast majority of people in England do not want the clocks to go back in October and think the road safety is one of the main reasons why the law needs to change."

By Press Association reporters