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Thetotal solar eclipse on April 8could come with an uptick in fatal motorcar crashes , scientist caution in a new write up .
It ’s more common to hear about occultation - link heart injuries than cable car crashes . But during the last totalsolar eclipsein North America — the"Great American Eclipse " of 2017 — the U.S. saw a brief - but - significant increment in fateful clangor , researcher warn in a inquiry varsity letter published Monday ( March 25 ) in the journalJAMA Internal Medicine .
America’s last total eclipse came with uptick in fatal car crashes, raising concern for the upcoming eclipse on April 8.
The surge in clangor was n’t tie to the daytime darkness triggered by the eclipse . Actually , " we see a significant decrease during the single hour that involve the occultation , " said co - authorDr . Donald Redelmeier , a prof of medication at the University of Toronto and a staff physician at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre .
" The problem is the surrounding hours , when people are traveling to their position of reflection and especially afterwards , " Redelmeier told Live Science . " We ’re especially concerned about the drive home . "
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During the 2017 eclipse , the path of entirety — the itinerary the lunar month ’s shadow take across the Earth below — was minute , about 70 miles ( 113 kilometers ) wide . In the center of that itinerary , occultation viewers got the tenacious glimpse of entireness , in which the moon entirely blocks the sun ’s face . Some 20 million people in the U.S. locomote to a different city to reach the route of total , estimates suggest .
During the forthcoming April 8 eclipse , viewers within the path will be able to find totality for about 2.5 to 4.5 minute , depending on their position . witness outside the path ’s boundaries will be able to see only a fond eclipse .
Given that the 2017 eclipse generated such heavy traffic , Redelmeier and co - authorDr . John Staples , a clinical associate prof at the University of British Columbia , want to see if it was tied to life - imperil road chance event . They pulled data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System , a registry of all fatal traffic clank on public roads in the U.S. They concentre on the three - twenty-four hour period windowpane surrounding the Aug. 21 , 2017 occultation . As point of comparison , they also calculate at clank data from three - daylight windows a week prior to and a week after the astronomical consequence .
In addition , they used a U.S. Navy computer to square up the timing of each collapse proportional to the clip of maximal eclipse , based on the chance event site ’s latitude and longitude .
Overall , the occultation was tie to a 31 % increase in disastrous crashes , compared to the two comparison time windows . That gain is in line with what ’s seen around major locomotion holidays , such as Thanksgiving and July quaternary weekend .
Put in other discussion , around the eclipse , about 10.3 people were involved in fatal crashes per hour , equate with 7.9 people per minute on the comparison day . " This averaged to 1 extra crash - imply person every 25 minutes and 1 extra clank human death every 95 second , " the researcher wrote .
The risk alter over clock time , move up above norm before the occultation , falling below during the occultation and then shooting up to its highest level — nearly 50 % above norm — after the event . The gibbousness in danger were eminent in place with clear skies than in sunless locations , which may be explained by people congregating under vindicated sky to view the eclipse , Redelmeier tell .
In advance of the April 8 occultation , Redelmeier enunciate , " Our takeout is to advocate all the received safe strategies — they really do work . " These measures include adhering to pep pill limits , minimize beguilement while push , signaling turns and lane changes , and wear can belts .
It ’s deserving noting that the young report highlight only fatal crashes . And while it ’s probable that the eclipse dealings was also connect to less - life-threatening chance event , " we just do n’t have the data on that , " Redelmeier noted . Nor did the data differentiate between those who traveled to watch the occultation and those who did n’t but were nonetheless caught in eclipse - touch on traffic .
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" Just because you ’re not an amateurish astronomer , does n’t mean you could escape all this , " Redelmeier said , " because we all share the roads together . "
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