TIME FOR CHANGE

Everyone loses more than one hour of sleep when we force our phones and clocks ahead this weekend.

We all lose a precious measure of road safety.

Why?

Drowsy Driving tops the list. Everyone needs enough to sleep to drive safely. Driving demands all of our attention and skill.

Distracted Driving remains a major threat. When we're dead tired it's so easy to forget that driving is the only job. Fuzzy brains struggle to override our instinct to answer that call and read that text.

Health Crisis behind the wheel is more likely. Some are more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke right after the time change. Losing sleep is stressful for our bodies. It may just be more than some drivers can handle. A critical health emergency is scary. But having that emergency behind the wheel at speed is absolutely terrifying for everyone including other drivers, cyclists and pedestrians sharing our busy roads.

Answer?

Let's all make small changes before Sunday to make it easier on our bodies to adjust.

We can gradually move up our bed time and waking, meals and exercise until our bodies are more in line with the coming change.

Make sleep our priority. Put away the phones at bed time.

While small changes make big differences, it still takes many days for drivers to slowly adjust to change.

When you've been injured in a car crash, and believe the at fault driver was driving drowsy, let the investigating police officer know. If there was no officer at the scene, then make sure this information is on your report at the Accident Reporting Centre.

Then call your experienced community injury lawyer.

Martin Law knows a car crash is never just an accident.