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Time change this weekend, drive safely

The insurance company is tellin drivers that moving the time back an hour can disrupt sleeping patterns.

Don't let the change back to standard time this Saturday impair your driving skills, says ICBC.

The insurance company is tellin drivers that moving the time back an hour can disrupt sleeping patterns and make you drowsy behind the wheel.

"There is a 10 per cent increase in the average number of crashes in the Lower Mainland during the late afternoon commute in the two weeks following the end of Daylight Saving Time compared to the two weeks prior to the change," said Dr. John Vavrik, a psychologist with ICBC. "We see this crash rate increase slightly outside of the Lower Mainland, where road conditions can become more challenging earlier in the season."

While the fall time change means we have the chance to get an extra hour of sleep, according to an ICBC survey, 30 per cent of drivers overcompensate for that extra hour of sleep by staying up later and therefore losing any potential benefit of that opportunity.

"We rationalize that extra hour – many of us think that since we're going to get an additional hour of sleep we can stay awake longer or drive home later, but we actually end up feeling more tired and less alert," said Vavrik.