When the clocks go back, New Jersey's pedestrian crashes move to the drive home

What happens to pedestrian crashes when the clocks go back?

They move to the evening. The total rose much less than the evening count: 863 pedestrian crashes in the four weeks after, 791 before, across all 24 hours, which is 9 percent more.

• The 5 pm hour roughly tripled: 46 pedestrian crashes between 5:00 and 5:59 pm in the four weeks before the change, 141 in the four weeks after.
• The 6 pm hour went from 80 to 123.
• The 6 am hour fell from 52 to 19.

What changed most is when people on foot are hit. Evening pedestrian crashes rose sharply and early morning ones fell, as the darkness moved from one end of the day to the other.

Why do pedestrian crashes rise after daylight saving time ends?

The evening walk home is now in the dark. Before the change, 64 percent of 5 to 8 pm pedestrian crashes were recorded in the dark (130 of 202). After it, 87 percent were (278 of 320).

Mornings had fewer crashes at the same time. Pedestrian crashes between 6 and 8 am fell from 105 to 61, 42 percent fewer, as mornings got lighter.

Pedestrian crashes also rose faster than crashes overall. All crashes between 5 and 8 pm rose 26 percent (8,181 to 10,316), while pedestrian crashes in those hours rose 58 percent.

For the hour by hour pattern of every crash type across the year, see when most New Jersey car accidents happen.

Which New Jersey towns saw the biggest jump?

Newark and Elizabeth. These are small numbers, so read them as a pattern, not a ranking.

Essex County more than doubled, from 27 to 60. Mercer went from 3 to 18 and Camden was the one large drop, 11 to 6. Every county is in the table below; Hunterdon is missing because it had none in these hours.

Download the data. It is free to reuse with a link to this page. Files: counties, 5 to 8 pm (CSV), top 25 towns, 5 to 8 pm (CSV), every hour of the day (CSV) and each year's before and after totals (CSV).¹

Is it happening again this year?

We are in that window right now. The clocks went back on Sunday, November 1, 2026, and the four weeks run to November 28.

2025 looks the same, so far. In the preliminary 2025 data, 5 to 8 pm pedestrian crashes went from 103 to 130 and the 5 pm hour from 26 to 49, while 6 to 8 am fell from 50 to 28.

Didn't AAA already warn about November evenings?

Yes. It is not news that November evenings are risky for people on foot, and AAA Northeast has published this warning for years.

News 12 New Jersey reported on October 31, 2026 that AAA cited state figures this fall. New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety data showed pedestrian crashes in the 5 pm hour rose 65 percent from October to November 2025.

What the full hour by hour count adds: in the same four weeks that 5 pm pedestrian crashes rise, 6 am pedestrian crashes fall. The crashes mostly move into the evening commute hours.²

How can you stay safe walking or driving after 5 pm this month?

Plan for the dark, whether you walk or drive:

• Expect your usual walk home to be in the dark now, even if it was light two weeks ago.
• Wear something light or reflective and carry a light. Phone flashlights count.
• Drivers: people at crosswalks between 5 and 7 pm who were in daylight last month are now in the dark and harder to see. Slow down at crossings and bus stops.

If you or someone in your family was hit while walking, our guide to what to do after a pedestrian crash in New Jersey covers medical bills, the police report and insurance.

What can't these numbers tell you?

How risky each walk became. These are counts of reported crashes, not rates, and we do not know how many people were walking in each hour.

The clock change is not the only thing that changed. The "after" window also has shorter days and Thanksgiving week.

The 3 pm hour also rose, from 37 to 71, almost all in daylight (69 of 71 after the change), and we cannot say why from this data. Nothing here says who was at fault in any crash.