11/20/2023 0 Comments Turn clocks back tonightThere’s even an uptick during the week in November when the clocks “fall back.” Heart attacks increase 24 percent in the week after the U.S. It wreaks havoc with people’s sleep cycles. Avoiding clock switches improves sleepĬritics of DST are correct about one thing: The biannual clock switch is bad for health and welfare. in 1973, which helped combat the effect of OPEC’s oil embargo. Similarly, DST resulted in 150,000 barrels of oil saved by the U.S. Officials at the California Energy Commission estimated that 3.4 percent of California’s winter energy usage could be saved by moving to year-round DST. This rationale motivated some in California to recommend permanent DST a decade ago, when the state experienced recurrent electricity shortages and rolling brown-outs. ![]() Under standard time, the sun rises earlier, reducing morning energy consumption, but only half of Americans are awake to be able to use the sun. Having more sun in the evening requires not just less electricity to provide lighting, but reduces the amount of oil and gas required to heat homes and businesses when people need that energy most. But a considerable portion of the population is still asleep at sunrise, resulting in significantly less demand for energy then. Virtually everyone in our society is awake and using energy in the early evening hours when the sun sets. When the sun is out later in the evening, peak energy loads are reduced. Many people don’t know that the original justification for the creation of DST was to save energy, initially during World War I and II and then later during the 1973 OPEC oil crisis. Crime rates are lower by 30 percent in the morning to afternoon hours, even when those morning hours occur before sunrise, when it’s still dark.Ī 2013 British study found that improved lighting in the evening hours could reduce the crime rate by up to 20 percent. This is especially true for crimes by juveniles, which peak in the after-school and early evening hours.Ĭriminals strongly prefer to do their work in the darkness of evening and night. Moving sunlight into the evening hours has a far greater impact on the prevention of crime than it does in the morning. imposed year-round standard time.ĭarkness is also a friend of crime. The opposite effect would occur if the U.S. Standard time has precisely the opposite impact, by moving sunlight into the morning.Ī meta-study by Rutgers researchers demonstrated that 343 lives per year could be saved by moving to year-round DST. Fatal vehicle-on-pedestrian crashes increase threefold when the sun goes down.ĭST brings an extra hour of sunlight into the evening to mitigate those risks. The evening rush hour is twice as fatal as the morning for various reasons: Far more people are on the road, more alcohol is in drivers’ bloodstreams, people are hurrying to get home and more children are enjoying outdoor, unsupervised play. Congress decides to take action on the new Tennessee Law – we still must readjust our internal clocks twice a year.Simply put, darkness kills – and darkness in the evening is far deadlier than darkness in the morning. That is how states like most of Arizona and Hawaii have been able to avoid jumping back and forth an hour every year. The Uniform Time Act does allow states to opt-out of Daylight Saving Time and stay on Standard Time but not the other way around. The bill has been sitting in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee since March. ![]() ![]() Marco Rubio introduced legislation this session called the ‘Sunshine Protection Act of 2019’ that would do just that. President Trump has said he likes the idea of permanent daylight saving nationwide.įlorida Sen. Once that happens, Tennessee and other states like Florida that have approved similar legislation are free to make the change final. Congress must next pass a federal law to amend the Uniform Time Act of 1966 to exempt states so they can individually observe Daylight Saving Time year-round. Interstate commerce would have to adapt, so it is also a federal matter and the Federal Government has to approve the new Tennessee law for it to take effect. Why then are we still turning clocks back tonight?Įven though Tennessee’s new law said it will scrap the twice-annual time shift - the state isn’t the only one who would be affected by the change. So, Tennessee passed a law back in May to observe Daylight Saving Time ‘year round’.
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