A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. The first of the solar eclipses of 2024 will occur on April 8. The total solar eclipse, which cannot be observed from Turkey, can be watched from Mexico, the eastern parts of the USA and southeastern Canada.
According to Live Science, scientists warn about the eclipse on April 8 in a new report. In the report, scientists warn that the total solar eclipse on April 8 may lead to an increase in fatal car accidents.
A SHORT BUT SIGNIFICANT INCREASE
The United States saw a brief but significant increase in fatal crashes during the last total solar eclipse in North America, researchers warned in a research letter published Monday (March 25) in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
“THE PROBLEM COMES UP DURING THOSE HOURS AND AFTER”
According to the news, the increase in accidents was not due to the darkness of the day caused by the eclipse. Dr. is a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a staff physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Donald Redelmeier said, “We see a significant drop during the single hour of the eclipse. The problem occurs during the hours when people travel to viewing sites and especially afterwards. We are particularly concerned about the return home.” said.
According to estimates, approximately 20 million people in the United States traveled to a different city to reach the eclipse path in 2017.
Given that the 2017 eclipse generated such heavy traffic, Redelmeier and Dr. John Staples wanted to see if this was linked to life-threatening traffic accidents. They took data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHSA) system, which records all fatal traffic accidents on public roads in the United States.
Their focus was on the three-day period around the August 21, 2017 eclipse. As a point of comparison, they also examined crash data for three-day periods one week before and one week after the astronomical event.
However, they used a U.S. Navy calculator to determine the timing of each crash relative to the maximum eclipse time based on the latitude and longitude of the crash site.
31% INCREASE IN FATAL ACCIDENTS
Overall, the eclipse was determined to cause a 31% increase in fatal crashes compared to the two comparison time periods. This increase was found to be in line with the increase seen on travel holidays such as Thanksgiving and July 4th.