British summer time begins on Sunday, March 25 and road safety group GEM Motoring Assist (formerly the Guild of Experienced Motorists) is renewing its campaign to force the Government to make it the last time clocks are altered.

With the message: "Hey minister, leave those clocks alone," GEM says British summer time (BST) should last the whole year round and the idea of putting the clocks back in October should become history.

"Hundreds more accidents occur on dark and dangerous winter afternoons," said GEM chief executive David Williams. "It has a particularly disastrous impact on youngsters leaving school and it is a problem that is so easy to solve."

He said that Members of Parliament treat the concept with contempt because it is not a headline grabber or vote winner.

Williams said: "When keeping BST was debated in The House a few weeks ago the vote to make summer time last for 12 months gained a favourable majority but not enough MPs had turned up to make it law. That is how much most of our elected members care about the road safety of children. Research has clearly shown that to maintain BST during the winter months would save around 100 lives and 400 serious injuries each and every year."