We're approaching that time of year that everyone dreads (the change to daylight saving time and the loss of a precious hour in bed that comes with it) and naturally, people are wondering if it's time to ditch daylight saving time.
As my learned colleague explains in the article linked above, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that changing clocks back and forth every year is a really terrible idea, and people seem to agree with the experts, and most is in favor of following a standard schedule for the entire year.
Sounds like a done deal, right? Unfortunately I'm here to tell you why it's not going to happen. At least not in the short term.
Permanent daylight saving time in the US
Here's the thing: The United States already tried switching to permanent daylight saving time and it didn't work out so well. In January 1974, President Richard Nixon enacted year-round daylight saving time as a two-year energy-saving experiment in response to the 1973 oil crisis. At first it was a popular measure: 79 percent of Americans supported it when polled in December 1973.
However, it didn't take long for the public's mood to change; In February 1974 only 42 percent were still in favor of the change. The main reason? The greatest danger of traffic accidents involving children going to school on dark winter mornings. The two-year experiment only lasted until October 1974, when the clocks went back as usual.
British Standard Time
The same concerns led to the end of a similar experiment in the United Kingdom a few years earlier. Between 1968 and 1971, the British government introduced British Standard Time, changing time across the country to daylight saving time throughout the year. The measure resulted in an increase in road casualties in the morning, but it also resulted in a much larger decrease in road casualties in the afternoon. However, this decline was skewed by the introduction of new drink-driving laws around the same time.
Ultimately, it was the small increase in the number of children who were injured on the way to school that led to the end of this experiment. However, the shift to darker winter mornings also made life more difficult for farmers and other workers who relied more on daylight to do their work effectively.
Despite this, even in mid-winter half of the population was in favor of staying with BST; That said, in Scotland 61 per cent wanted to return to GMT. And this raises an important point: How strongly permanent daylight saving time will affect you depends on how far north (or south) you are.
For people in the north of Scotland during the British Standard Time experiment, in the middle of winter the sun didn't rise until 10am, making for a horribly late start to the day. Where I live in the west of England, sunrise would have been at 9.15am and I don't think having an extra hour of daylight at work would have been much of a trade-off.
And I have to say that in the United States, in comparison, you have it pretty easy (except maybe in Alaska. Sorry, Alaska), because you are much further south. Even then, in most states (including Florida) we would still see children having to walk to school on dark winter mornings, and even if the overall result were fewer traffic accidents overall, an increase in accidents involving children due to a change to permanent daylight saving time would be a difficult pill to swallow.
Keep changing the clocks
Obviously, I'm talking about changes to daylight saving time, while many are advocating a change to year-round standard time. However, this has its own drawbacks: the sun sets earlier, meaning winter nights are as dark and long as ever, and rises earlier in the mornings, which would mean a much greater need for blackout curtains. in the summer months.
An eventual switch to permanent daylight saving time or standard time is not impossible: more of the world has abandoned it than is currently using it, and there is a whole swath of equatorial countries that have never needed daylight saving time, but The potential risks involved in switching mean that, despite the clear benefits, there is not much interest in doing so.
Numerous states have voted in favor of permanent daylight saving time, but the change depends on Congress changing federal law to allow them to do so. However, while the Sunshine Protection Act for permanent daylight saving time passed the Senate in 2022, it failed in the House; It was reintroduced in 2023 but has not made any progress. And it doesn't help that, while there is a set mood for a single time all year, there is disagreement over whether that time should be daylight saving time or standard time, which is proving to be a major hurdle for the law. Ultimately, it is much easier to get by than we have to make a change that will be unpopular with some.
Basically, don't hold your breath.
