Moon Phases and Nighttime Road Crashes Involving Pedestrians

Abstract The nighttime road fatality rate per distance traveled in the U.S. is about three times the daytime rate. The crashes that are most influenced by the lower ambient illuminance at night are those involving pedestrians. Here we report on the effect of different levels of illuminance provided by the different phases of the moon on nighttime fatal pedestrian crashes. The results indicate that the frequency of pedestrian fatalities on nights with a new moon is 22 percent higher than on nights with a full moon. This finding indicates that pedestrian crashes are sensitive to differences within low levels of ambient illuminance.