In just a few days the moon will pass between the earth and the sun for three minutes of celestial majesty. A total solar eclipse will cast a narrow shadow across the continent, stretching from Mexico, through Texas and Maine, all the way to Mirimishi, New Brunswick in Canada. It’s a rare astronomical occurrence—the next total eclipse visible in North America is scheduled for 2044—and it’s associated with all sorts of strange phenomena. Tricked by the darkness and cooler temperatures, bees return to their hives and crickets start chirping. Birds go quiet as nature’s volume turns itself down. Meanwhile, in the human world, car crash fatalities go way up.
New research published in JAMA International Medicine and summarized by the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine shows a significant increase in car crashes and related fatalities in the three-day window surrounding a solar eclipse. Within that frame, the report authors show traffic risk rises by 31%. The study’s lead investigator, Donald Redelmeier, compares the increase to what’s normally observed around Thanksgiving, with an additional crash every 25 minutes on average and an additional fatality every 95 minutes.
It’s tempting to link the resulting carnage to the spectacular sights and weird lighting conditions, especially given what we know of common light-based driving risks like glare. But the data suggests the spike in vehicular violence is actually behavioral. Human factors are at the heart of this grim anomaly.
While the eclipse is rare, underneath the crash statistics we find everyday causes of risk. Speeding to get to the right spot at the right time. Driving on unfamiliar roads clogged with tourist traffic. Impaired or distracted people behind the wheel. The report authors suggest best practices to remedy the danger. People can manage human factors by giving themselves adequate time to arrive at their location, planning their route, wearing a seatbelt, avoiding distraction, and never driving while inebriated—these prescriptions are long-term, and effective no matter where the moon is in relation to the sun.
Human factors management is a learnable skill that can keep you and your community safe 24/7, on the job, at home and on the road to the eclipse’s path of totality and beyond. SafeStart is here to help with that. Get started on addressing driver-based risk among your workers or brush up on your vehicular safety habits with our useful Driving Awareness Toolkit.