While some humans appreciated the extra hour of sleep when Daylight Savings Time ended, the days following the time change pose a higher risk for traffic accidents involving bears.
That’s according to the organization Bearwise, managed by a team of North American bear biologists and communications professionals as a program of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
With the shift in daylight hours, people are spending more time driving in the dark, especially at dusk and during the early evening hours. And that’s exactly when bears are most active as they continue their frantic search for food to carry them through the winter months.
In the late fall, bears are in their hyperphagia stage, actively searching for food up to 20 hours a day. This quest for calories means bears may be traveling longer distances and, thus, crossing roads more often. And since humans, their campsites, garbage sites and homes often become unfortunate food sources, the bears also venture more often into populated areas.