The UK government is looking at the possibility of moving the clocks forward another hour to bring them inline with most of Europe, leading to lighter evenings but darker mornings.
Tourism chiefs support the move and believe that longer, lighter summer evenings will attract more tourists to Britain and bring in billions of pounds. Safety campaigners also support the move, except in Scotland where it is feared that such a change would lead to more road accidents in the mornings.
Bringing the clocks forward by one hour would bring the UK into line with Central European Time (CET), which is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) plus one hour.
A parliamentary bill requiring the government to prepare an analysis of the costs and benefits of shifting the clocks forward received MPs’ initial approval in December.
The argument that it would cause more accidents is a curious one in some respects. Driving in the dark is driving in the dark, whatever the ‘official’ hours of darkness. Surely people would notice that it was dark and drive accordingly.
Granted there would undoubtedly be more cars on the road for the ‘new morning’, but the onus should be on the driver to ensure that he or she is driving according to the prevailing conditions (dark, light, snow,rain etc). If they cannot, then they probably shouldn’t be driving in the first place.
No doubt the government preference would be to actually put the clocks back….about 13 years…. and undo the economic chaos brought on by the previous administration. Alas.