A report by the RAC Foundation, using police data from the past six years, shows that in the two weeks after the Autumn clock change there were an average of 278 more personal injury collisions than in the two weeks before the clock change.
Three quarters of the extra collisions occur in the afternoons, which will be darker because of the clocks going back one hour.
The report also suggests that the worsening weather at this time of year could also be a significant factor.
According to the report, the number of road accidents actually decreases when the clocks go forward in the Spring.
The research states there are 74 fewer collisions per year in the fortnight after the clocks go forward to British Summer Time, which represents a decrease of 1.5%.
But also adds that the “reduction in Spring is more outweighed by the increase in Autumn”.
The research also found the number of collisions where someone is hurt and the weather is reported to have been ‘adverse’ is seen to rise by a similar proportion to the overall increase in personal injury collisions, though police will not necessarily have recorded poor weather itself as a contributory factor.
“Every year at about this time there are calls to abandon the spring forward, fall-back rhythm of daylight savings time, but our work suggests that it’s darker days and winter weather together that cause the spike in road safety risk,” said RAC Foundation director, Steve Gooding.
“Rain, snow, ice, wind, mist and fog are all factors which make driving more challenging and – the data suggests – more dangerous.
“Wrapped up snugly in our warm and comfortable cars it’s easy to feel immune to the conditions outside, yet year in, year out, they take their toll on thousands of road users,” added Mr Gooding.
The full report by the RAC Foundation is available to read online.
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