Saturday, December 7

Morocco ditches time change could Europe follow


 

 

Winter may be coming, but Morocco has decided to stop marking the changing of the seasons by turning back its clocks.

As millions of people around the world prepare for an extra hour of sleep this weekend (or one more episode of your current Netflix series of choice), the north African nation has instead abandoned the concept of clock changes and chosen to stick to summer time all year round.

The Moroccan government said the decision to stay on GMT+1 would save an extra hour of natural light and reduce electricity consumption.

It is a move that could be soon replicated in plenty of other countries, with the EU consulting on a proposal to abandon the practice from 2019.

Since 2002, the twice-yearly time change has been dictated by an EU directive, with a harmonised continental clock seen as beneficial to cross-border businesses and transport links.

But a vote in the European Parliament last year will see the arrangement be reconsidered and allow member states to opt out, much as non-EU countries like Russia, Turkey and Iceland already have.

It is a simple enough process, with North Korea managing to move its clocks forward to match the South just one week after leader Kim Jong Un announced his intention to do it earlier this year.

There is no sign of any such move being made in the UK, even after Brexit, despite road safety charity Break urging the government to alter the time-honoured tradition to aid motorists.

The renewed appeal came after new research by the RAC Foundation found that the annual October clock change heralds 20 extra road crashes per day in which someone is injured.

Analysis of police data from the past six years showed that in the two weeks after the clocks go back, there are an average of 278 more personal injury collisions than in the previous two weeks.

Some 75% of those extra collisions take place in the afternoons, which quickly become darker after the change.

Less sunlight, coupled with typically harsher weather conditions, makes roads busier and driving more challenging and more dangerous, the research said.

The AA has issued a similar seasonal warning, highlighting that thousands of cars with defective lights will present a greater hazard once the clocks change.

Department for Transport figures show the number of people injured in crashes on UK roads last year when faulty lights were a contributory factor reached a three-year high of 191.

George Flinton, AA Patrol of the Year, said: During the lighter summer months a lot of people ignore or simply don’t notice problems with their car’s lights.

When the clocks go back in autumn, more accidents happen as cars with a blown bulb suddenly stand out in the darker evenings. It’s much more difficult for other road users to gauge how wide these cars are and they can easily be mistaken for a motorbike.