Police to rev up patrols as we turn back clocks for daylight saving time

Police say daylight saving time usually leads to drowsy drivers and more car crashes.

News 12 Staff

Nov 5, 2021, 9:33 PM

Updated 1,044 days ago

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Police are ramping up patrols this weekend as we get ready to change our clocks.
They say daylight saving time usually leads to drowsy drivers and more car crashes.
"We're seeing just a spate of bad driving, these days," said AAA's Robert Sinclair. He says when the clocks "fall back," there is a major spike in car crashes and pedestrians killed.
AAA came out with new DMV data Friday that said, "October, November and December are more dangerous for pedestrians on Long Island than the summer months."
"All of a sudden when you're accustomed to having daylight during the evening commute, now it's dark," Sinclair said. "It's really surprising on Long Island because Long Island is not really a walker's territory."
Suffolk police announced Friday that it will increase traffic enforcement beginning Monday. Members of the SAFE-T team, which does drug and alcohol enforcement, will be deployed. And a specialized team of officers will be out patrolling the Long Island Expressway, Sunrise Highway and other roadways.
"We're going to double the size of our SITE team starting on Monday and all the officers we're adding, pulling officers out of our precincts to add them to the SITE team," said acting Suffolk Police Commissioner Stuart Cameron.
Additionally, Suffolk police added that each officer in a squad car will soon have access on a laptop to accident data, where accidents happen, why they happen and exactly when.
"So they can more intelligentially, enforce traffic to directly improve the safety on our roadways," Cameron said.
AAA says drivers bear the brunt of responsibility for Long Island pedestrian accidents because they fail to yield the right of way to those crossing the street.