More people die in auto accidents if they live in the “wrong time zone,” according to new research published in Time & Society. Erratically-drawn time zones in the U.S. may be to blame.

Over twelve years of data, our research team found a 21.8% higher vehicle-fatality rate (VFR) in U.S. counties where the clock says 12 pm well before “high noon.” More than 53 million Americans live in these “eccentric time localities” (ETLs), where social time is severed from solar time.