When The Clocks Fall Back — What That "Extra Hour" Of Sleep Can Cost You

On my evening walk one day last week, I was surprised to see that the streetlights in our neighbourhood were on before I reached my house. The sky had shifted from light to dusk more rapidly than I anticipated.

It made me pause — and consider a pattern I often see in my legal practice: when the clocks "fall back," the risk of serious traffic accidents and injuries rises, especially for pedestrians, cyclists, and anyone who shares the road.

The invisible hazard of earlier darkness

In the fall, it is easy to welcome the "extra hour" of sleep we get by turning back the clock. But that extra hour of light in the morning comes at the expense of our evening visibility — when traffic is heavy with people driving home from work, children walking home from school, cyclists finishing a commute, and older folks doing errands.