The times are a-changin'.

That's not a philosophical reference to the Bob Dylan's dire warning - it's a simple reminder that we're switching from Pacific Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time this weekend.

But for some people, it should be taken as a dire warning, nonetheless.

According to an ICBC survey, 34 per cent of B.C. drivers admit that their ability to drive is affected - and not in a good way - by the disruption in sleep cycle caused by the hour lost when clocks change on Saturday night (officially, it's at 2 a.m. Sunday that clocks are turned forward to 3 a.m.).

Given a statistical baseline that indicates an overwhelming majority of drivers impossibly consider themselves "better than average," it's probably safe to say the actual number of drivers affected by the time change is greater than the 34 per cent who admit it.

And we're all probably more seriously affected than we care to admit.

Even if only 34 per cent of drivers - one in three on the road at any given time - are less alert and slower to react to an emergent situation (like a kid darting across the road after a ball in our brightening spring weather, or a pedestrian stepping into the road unexpectedly, or a sleepy fellow driver missing a stop sign.), it should give serious pause for thought to the rest of us "above-average" drivers who will need to defend ourselves against having them collide with us during the next week or two under the new time schedule, while all our circadian rhythms get back in sync.

Indeed, the folks who admit to feeling a little less perfect because of the time-change disruption may actually be less dangerous to the rest of us than those who refuse to consider the possibility that they may be affected. At least the 34 per cent are more likely to be on the alert for their own lack of alertness.

- B.G.