Crashes Involving Pedestrians and Bicyclists Double in Bakersfield’s Early Evenings After Clocks Fall Back
November 10, 2026 | Article by Chain | Cohn | Clark staff Social Share
State crash data also shows people on foot and on bikes were involved in the highest share of Bakersfield intersection crashes in 11 years of data
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – November 2026 – In the weeks after the clocks fall back each November, early evenings in Bakersfield start to see far more car crashes, and people on foot and on bikes are involved in a greater share of them. In the four weeks after the fall time change, injury and fatal crashes between 5 and 7 p.m. on Bakersfield streets rise by 39%. Crashes involving a pedestrian or bicyclist in those hours double, according to an analysis of state crash data from 2015 through 2025 by Chain | Cohn | Clark, a Bakersfield personal injury law firm. Morning crashes fall 36% over the same weeks as mornings get lighter. This pattern—the number of evening crashes increasing after the time change—held in nine of the 11 years reviewed.
People on foot and on bikes are also involved in a larger share of the city’s intersection crashes than at any previous point in the data. In 2025, 16.1% of mapped intersection crashes in Bakersfield involved a pedestrian or bicyclist, compared with a 10-year average of 12%. From 2015 through 2025, 34 pedestrians and eight bicyclists were killed in intersection crashes in the city, including four pedestrians in 2025.
Since the clocks changed on Nov. 1, the sun has been setting at around 5 p.m. in Bakersfield. After dark is when pedestrians are typically most at risk: from 2015 through 2025, 81% of Bakersfield crashes that killed a pedestrian happened in the dark, compared with 76% of pedestrian deaths nationwide in 2024, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For context, Bakersfield has been ranked third-worst for pedestrian safety in the U.S. by Smart Growth America’s 2026 Dangerous by Design report.
“Nobody in a crosswalk or a bike lane has a steel frame around them,” said Matt Clark, managing partner and attorney at Chain | Cohn | Clark. “When the share of these crashes involving people on foot and on bikes is the highest it has been in eleven years, it tells you how thin the margin is.”
Chain | Cohn | Clark’s updated list of Bakersfield’s 10 most dangerous intersections, published Oct. 28, ranks the city’s intersections by the number of injury and fatal crashes recorded there from 2015 through 2025. Additionally, the firm found that in 2025, officers coded 40.9% of Bakersfield’s 660 intersection crashes as traffic signal and sign violations, a category that generally includes running red lights and stop signs, and another 22.9% as right-of-way violations, such as failing to yield on a left turn. Together, that is nearly two in three crashes.
“When roughly two out of three crashes at these intersections come down to a signal or a failure to yield, you are looking at moments of decision,” Clark said. “Stopping at the line. Waiting for the gap. Slowing down for the turn. Those are small choices with enormous consequences for the person in the other car or the crosswalk.”
The local pattern mirrors national research. A 2025 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study of U.S. fatal crashes from 2010 to 2019 found fewer fatal crashes in the lighter mornings after the fall time change and more in the darker afternoons. Crashes in which a pedestrian or bicyclist was killed rose 13% in the five weeks after the change, and the researchers tied that increase to changing light conditions.
Connecticut sees the same evening shift in its own data. AAA Northeast found that pedestrian crashes in the 5 p.m. hour there rose 147% from October to November, based on 2020 to 2024 data.
The findings arrive as Congress weighs whether to stop changing the clocks. In July, the U.S. House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent, and the bill is now before the Senate. In 2018, California voters approved Proposition 7, which allows the Legislature to adopt year-round daylight saving time by a two-thirds vote if federal law changes. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has told a Senate committee that its research does not favor permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time on road safety grounds alone, because the effects differ for people inside and outside vehicles.
Over the coming weeks and months, Chain | Cohn | Clark will connect with city and county leaders, law enforcement, community and safety advocates and neighbors who use these streets every day to discuss what is driving the crashes. The firm will share what it learns with the community. The full list of Bakersfield’s 10 most dangerous intersections is available on the firm’s website, along with a Spanish-language version.
The attorneys at Chain | Cohn | Clark represent people injured in intersection collisions, pedestrian accidents and bicycle accidents, along with wrongful death cases for families who have lost someone in a crash. People injured in a Bakersfield crash can request a free consultation at chainlaw.com or by calling 800-322-4529.
Methodology
Analyses use California Highway Patrol crash records from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), accessed through the Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS), maintained by UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC). The data covers injury and fatal crashes reported to law enforcement within the City of Bakersfield from Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2025, including crashes on state highways inside city limits. Crashes involving property damage only are not included. The data was current as of Sept. 15, 2026, and 2025 figures are provisional and subject to change.
The dangerous intersections list groups crashes within 50 feet of each intersection. TIMS recorded 6,400 intersection crashes resulting in injury or death over the study period.
A separate analysis of all injury and fatal crashes in Bakersfield compared the 28 days before each fall time change with the 28 days starting on the day of the change, for each year from 2015 through 2025 (time changes on Nov. 1, 2015; Nov. 6, 2016; Nov. 5, 2017; Nov. 4, 2018; Nov. 3, 2019; Nov. 1, 2020; Nov. 7, 2021; Nov. 6, 2022; Nov. 5, 2023; Nov. 3, 2024; and Nov. 2, 2025). Figures are combined across all 11 years. “Evening” means 5:00 to 6:59 p.m., and “morning” means 6:00 to 7:59 a.m. A crash counts as involving a pedestrian or bicyclist if SWITRS flags either. “In the dark” includes SWITRS lighting codes for dark with streetlights, dark without streetlights and dark with streetlights not working; dusk and dawn are counted separately.
| Bakersfield injury and fatal crashes, 2015–2025 combined | 4 weeks before | 4 weeks after | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All crashes, 5:00 to 6:59 p.m. | 189 | 262 | +39% |
| Crashes involving a pedestrian or bicyclist, 5:00 to 6:59 p.m. | 28 | 56 | +100% |
| Evening crashes that happened in the dark | 65 (34%) | 232 (89%) | – |
| All crashes, 6:00 to 7:59 a.m. | 97 | 62 | −36% |
| All crashes, all hours | 1,330 | 1,212 | −9% |
Evening crashes rose after the time change in nine of the 11 years, and evening crashes involving a pedestrian or bicyclist rose in nine of the 11 years. Because single-year counts are small, the figures are reported combined. The darkness figure for pedestrian deaths covers all 204 Bakersfield crashes from 2015 through 2025 in which a pedestrian was killed; 166 of them happened in the dark.
The comparison shows a consistent pattern, not proof that the time change causes the additional crashes. The weeks before the change fall in October, so weather, school schedules and seasonal travel also differ. However, the drop in morning crashes alongside the rise in evening crashes, and the shift in how many evening crashes happen in the dark, point to light as the main change, which is consistent with national research.
About Chain | Cohn | Clark
Chain | Cohn | Clark is a Bakersfield personal injury and workers’ compensation law firm that has represented injured people and their families in Kern County since 1934. The firm’s practice areas include car and truck accidents, pedestrian and bicycle accidents, wrongful death, workers’ compensation and premises liability. Chain | Cohn | Clark is located at 1731 Chester Ave., Suite 100, Bakersfield, CA 93301. For more information, visit www.chainlaw.com.
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