Will this week's solar eclipse make driving DANGEROUS? Drivers must focus on the road or risk accidents and temporary blindness, experts warn

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The striking sight of a solar eclipse will capture the attention of commuters across Britain on their way to work this Friday.

It will be the first time that the astronomical spectacle has occurred during rush-hour in the UK, and there are fears that motorists may take their eyes off the wheel to watch the cosmic alignment.

Experts have warned that drivers may be dazzled as they watch the sun or risk a crash simply by letting their concentration falter.

 

 

 

The path of totality for Friday's eclipse will travel from just beneath the Greenland peninsula to the Arctic Circle. The left-hand animation shows the totality of the 1999 eclipse. The right-hand animation shows how the shadow created by the eclipse on 20 March will travel over Europe

On 20 March, the moon's orbit will see it travel in front of the sun, casting a shadow over Earth. 

The proportion of sun covered by the moon during the near-total solar eclipse will be higher in the north of the UK, so while there be an 84 per cent eclipse in London, Manchester will see an 89 per cent eclipse and 94 per cent in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The most ‘complete’ eclipse in the UK will be see from Lerwick in the Shetland Isles.

Timeings will vary, so that in London, the partial eclipse - when the moon starts touching the sun's edge - will begin at 8.24am.

The eclipse will peak at 9.31am and this will be the point when the moon is closest to the centre of the sun.

By 10.41am, the moon will leave the sun's edge and the partial eclipse will end. 

The solar eclipse is set to block out nearly 90 per cent of sunlight across parts of Europe. On the morning of the 20 March the moon's orbit will see it travel in front of the sun casting a shadow over Earth - and the eclipse will be the biggest event of its kind since 11 August 1999 (pictured over Germany)

The eclipse will see up to 84 per cent of the sun covered in London and around 94 per cent in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. A partial eclipse will be visible across Europe, North Africa and Russia for about 90 minutes. Driving experts have warned drivers to keep their eyes' on the road to avoid accidents

For spectators in Edinburgh, for example, the eclipse will begin, peak and end four minutes later.

Skies will darken for any location where the maximum obscuration exceeds 95 per cent, which includes north-western Scotland, the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetland Islands, meaning that drivers in these places will have to switch on their headlights. 

But RAC spokesman Simon Williams told MailOnline: ‘The biggest danger of the eclipse from the motorist’s perspective is likely to be distraction rather than being plunged into darkness.'

He said that distraction is a major cause of accidents on the road and was a contributory factor in 23 per cent of fatal accidents in 2013.

‘It is imperative that rush-hour drivers maintain good focus on the road ahead rather than being tempted to catch a glimpse of the moon obscuring the sun and therefore not fully concentrating on what’s going on around them,' he added.

‘Anyone that does, is not only taking their eyes off the road, but may well end up being temporarily blinded from the sun’s brightness before it is eclipsed.

‘The weather will also play an important role on the day: if it is a bright day, the eclipse will be more dramatic and may therefore pose a greater distraction to motorists. 

‘The best advice has to be to either watch the eclipse from a safe place or watch it on the news later as the risk of doing it from the wheel could result in you becoming part of a nasty news story.’

The Highways Agency has advised road users to drive carefully and adjust their speed, just as they would for unusual weather or road conditions.

An RAC spokesman told MailOnline: ‘The biggest danger of the eclipse from the motorist’s perspective is likely to be distraction rather than being plunged into darkness. Distraction is a major cause of accidents (stock image) on the road and was, in fact, a contributory factor in 23 per cent of fatal accidents in 2013.'

This animation is designed to appear from the 'point of view' of the eclipse as it will occur on March 20. It shows the shadow being cast over the UK, Greenland, Europe and into Russia 

Referring to the rush hour problem, Robin Scagell, vice president of the Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA) told The Independent: ‘It’s not the best time [for an eclipse] from a safety point of view.’

However, he told MailOnline: 'Practically speaking there shouldn't be a problem - even from the north of Scotland there will still be plenty of light and if you didn't know there was an eclipse in progress you might not even notice. 

'It will still be broad daylight and no darker than if there were some cloud in front of the sun.

But danger could occur if a driver decides to take a quick look at the sun.

He said: 'There are the obvious issues about being distracted while driving, whether it's looking at the sun or anything else that attracts your attention away from the road.

'But if you stare at the bright sun you could be dazzled, which could then affect your ability to spot something in your way if not leading to permanent eye damage.' 

He said that while drivers often have to cope with driving in a low sun, they typically concentrate on the road, but 'reflex action prevents you from actually staring at it, and moves your centre of attention around.'

'If you want to view the eclipse stop somewhere safe and make sure you have eclipse glasses with you. Sunglasses are no good - not even several pairs on top of each other,' he said. 

Institutions such as SPA and the Royal Astronomical society have called on people to watch the event safely, using special glasses or pinhole cameras, for example and have published tips and guidelines.  

The solar eclipse will see up to 84 per cent of the sun covered over London and around 94 per cent in the main cities in Scotland (pictured is a full eclipse over Australia in 2012) The Highways Agency has advised road users to drive carefully and adjust their speed, just as they would for unusual weather or road conditions

Tom Kerss, astronomer at The Royal Observatory Greenwich said: 'Since the Moon is smaller than the Earth, and very far away, the properly dark shadow it casts will only be about 100 miles wide, and will spend most of its time darkening the chilly waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

'However, if the weather is clear, observers on Svalbard and the Faroes should experience almost three minutes of extraordinary day-time darkness.

'What’s more, lunar perigee - the time in the Lunar month when the Earth and Moon are closest together - will occur the evening before the eclipse. 

This makes our 2015 Spring Equinox eclipse a ‘supermoon’ eclipse - perhaps we should call that a supereclipse.

'Since the shadow of the moon will be ever so slightly larger in this scenario, it might appear slightly darker during totality, but in practise I think this would be difficult to detect, even by an experienced eclipse chaser.

'Nevertheless, it’s nice to have a supermoon, equinox and eclipse all falling on the same day.

'It’ll be well worth taking a look outside to see the two most important astronomical bodies in our lives rising together, and witness the last eclipse to cover so much of the sun from Europe in over a decade.'