Time Change
- Thread starter SkyRider
- Start date
It's not that we move them back in the Fall, it's that we move them forward in the Spring. (that is, we return to "normal" time over the winter. Summer is when we have "daylight savings time", giving us an extra hour of daylight later in the day).
But I agree with you that it sucks. We need the extra hour of daylight more in the winter than we do when the fucking sun goes down at 9:00 p.m. They should just leave the whole year at daylight savings time. No more resetting the clocks, ever!
i think it was good for farmers
gave them an extra hour of light in the summer to work the fields
seems dumb to change back to sun time and give that hour back when we need it the most but standardizing time transformed society for now everybody knew what time it was
gave them an extra hour of light in the summer to work the fields
seems dumb to change back to sun time and give that hour back when we need it the most but standardizing time transformed society for now everybody knew what time it was
Why did daylight saving time (DST) start, and why does it still continue? When asking a random sample of people we heard two answers again and again: "To help the farmers" or "Because of World War I ... or was it World War II?"In fact, farmers generally oppose daylight saving time. In Indiana, where part of the state observes DST and part does not, farmers have opposed a move to DST. Farmers, who must wake with the sun no matter what time their clock says, are greatly inconvenienced by having to change their schedule in order to sell their crops to people who observe daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time did indeed begin in the United States during World War I, primarily to save fuel by reducing the need to use artificial lighting. Although some states and communities observed daylight saving time between the wars, it was not observed nationally again until World War II.
Of course, World War II is long over. So why do we still observe daylight saving time?
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided the basic framework for alternating between daylight saving time and standard time, which we now observe in the United States. But Congress can't seem to resist tinkering with it. For example, in 1973 daylight saving time was observed all year, instead of just the spring and summer. The system of beginning DST at 2 AM on the first Sunday in April and ending it at 2 AM on the last Sunday in October was not standardized until 1986. The rules changed again in 2007. DST now begins on the second Sunday of March and ends the first Sunday in November.
The earliest known reference to the idea of daylight saving time comes from a purely whimsical 1784 essay by Benjamin Franklin, called "Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle." It was first seriously advocated by William Willet, a British Builder, in his pamphlet "Waste of Daylight" in 1907.
Over the years, supporters have advanced new reasons in support of DST, even though they were not the original reasons behind enacting DST.
One is safety. Some people believe that if we have more daylight at the end of the day, we will have fewer accidents.
In fact, this "benefit" comes only at the cost of less daylight in the morning. When year-round daylight time was tried in 1973, one reason it was repealed was because of an increased number of school bus accidents in the morning. Further, a study of traffic accidents throughout Canada in 1991 and 1992 by Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia before, during, and immediately after the so-called "spring forward" when DST begins in April. Alarmingly, he found an eight percent jump in traffic accidents on the Monday after clocks are moved ahead. He attributes the jump to the lost hour of sleep. In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, Coren explained, "These data show that small changes in the amount of sleep that people get can have major consequences in everyday activities." He undertook the study as a follow up to research showing that even an hour's change can disrupt sleep patterns and "persist for up to five days after each time shift." Other observers attribute the huge spike in accidents on the first Monday of DST to the sudden change in the amount of light during driving times. Regardless of the reason, there is no denying that changing our clocks has a significant cost in human lives.
While some people claim that they would miss the late evening light, a presumably similar number of people love the morning light. And projects, postponed during the sun filled summer, will be tackled with new vigor when the sun sets an hour earlier each day.
Congress appears to have felt we were not having enough of a difficult time so in 2007 they passed a law starting Daylight Savings time 3 weeks earlier and ending it one week later. This cost US companies billions to reset automated equipment, put us further out of sync with Asia and Africa time-wise, inconvenienced most of the country, all in the name of unproven studies that claim we save energy.
STANDARDTIME.COM SAYS: If we are saving energy let's go year round with Daylight Saving Time. If we are not saving energy let's drop Daylight Saving Time!
Daylight saving time did indeed begin in the United States during World War I, primarily to save fuel by reducing the need to use artificial lighting. Although some states and communities observed daylight saving time between the wars, it was not observed nationally again until World War II.
Of course, World War II is long over. So why do we still observe daylight saving time?
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided the basic framework for alternating between daylight saving time and standard time, which we now observe in the United States. But Congress can't seem to resist tinkering with it. For example, in 1973 daylight saving time was observed all year, instead of just the spring and summer. The system of beginning DST at 2 AM on the first Sunday in April and ending it at 2 AM on the last Sunday in October was not standardized until 1986. The rules changed again in 2007. DST now begins on the second Sunday of March and ends the first Sunday in November.
The earliest known reference to the idea of daylight saving time comes from a purely whimsical 1784 essay by Benjamin Franklin, called "Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle." It was first seriously advocated by William Willet, a British Builder, in his pamphlet "Waste of Daylight" in 1907.
Over the years, supporters have advanced new reasons in support of DST, even though they were not the original reasons behind enacting DST.
One is safety. Some people believe that if we have more daylight at the end of the day, we will have fewer accidents.
In fact, this "benefit" comes only at the cost of less daylight in the morning. When year-round daylight time was tried in 1973, one reason it was repealed was because of an increased number of school bus accidents in the morning. Further, a study of traffic accidents throughout Canada in 1991 and 1992 by Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia before, during, and immediately after the so-called "spring forward" when DST begins in April. Alarmingly, he found an eight percent jump in traffic accidents on the Monday after clocks are moved ahead. He attributes the jump to the lost hour of sleep. In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, Coren explained, "These data show that small changes in the amount of sleep that people get can have major consequences in everyday activities." He undertook the study as a follow up to research showing that even an hour's change can disrupt sleep patterns and "persist for up to five days after each time shift." Other observers attribute the huge spike in accidents on the first Monday of DST to the sudden change in the amount of light during driving times. Regardless of the reason, there is no denying that changing our clocks has a significant cost in human lives.
While some people claim that they would miss the late evening light, a presumably similar number of people love the morning light. And projects, postponed during the sun filled summer, will be tackled with new vigor when the sun sets an hour earlier each day.
Congress appears to have felt we were not having enough of a difficult time so in 2007 they passed a law starting Daylight Savings time 3 weeks earlier and ending it one week later. This cost US companies billions to reset automated equipment, put us further out of sync with Asia and Africa time-wise, inconvenienced most of the country, all in the name of unproven studies that claim we save energy.
STANDARDTIME.COM SAYS: If we are saving energy let's go year round with Daylight Saving Time. If we are not saving energy let's drop Daylight Saving Time!
Doesn't it appear to have the sun rise earlier in the morning?
I prefer that. Hate to still see it dark at 7 or 7:30 am.
This topic comes up twice a year at the switching to daylight savings time or standard time. The amount of sunlight a spot on the earth gets is dictated by the relationship of the earth to the sun. So those in more Northern latitudes (Alaska, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, etc) where they get almost 20 - 24 hours of daylight in the summer, have no use for daylight savings time. So in essence you are not saving daylight one bit. All it does is adjust your clocks to when the sunrises.
The other major issue with switching the clocks, is there is no standardization for when it is done across the planet. So for business purposes, it makes scheduling meetings with people in different parts of the world a hassel. So you get this frustration twice a year for periods of time.
For me, I prefer standard time, I'd rather have sunlight in the morning. However, I also have to live with the fact that comes with a price for the area that I live in Southern Ontario. Namely that it is pitch black at 4:30PM in December.
I have suggested that we abolish switching the clocks back and forth and just pick one time and leave it there. Heck even just splitting the difference and moving the clocks 30 minutes one time and leaving it permanently would work too.
Cheers
The other major issue with switching the clocks, is there is no standardization for when it is done across the planet. So for business purposes, it makes scheduling meetings with people in different parts of the world a hassel. So you get this frustration twice a year for periods of time.
For me, I prefer standard time, I'd rather have sunlight in the morning. However, I also have to live with the fact that comes with a price for the area that I live in Southern Ontario. Namely that it is pitch black at 4:30PM in December.
I have suggested that we abolish switching the clocks back and forth and just pick one time and leave it there. Heck even just splitting the difference and moving the clocks 30 minutes one time and leaving it permanently would work too.
Cheers
I don't mind darkness in the morning when I'm going to work but 4:30PM and after is PLAYTIME.
Question: Did he find a corresponding reduction in accidents on the monday following the "Fall-Back" change?
Don, your friend Stanley has made a plonker. At the "Spring-Forward" change, we don't lose an hour of sleep sunday morning. We gain an hour of sleep sunday night.
Say I go to sleep, as usual, at midnight saturday. (I'm the kind of person who naturally sleeps 8 hours, and I set my alarm clock, weekdays, to 7.30am.)
Sunday morning, I wake up naturally at what my body takes to be 8am. But now it's 7am sunday. I have my day sunday. But sunday evening, I start to feel sleepy and go to bed at 11pm. Monday morning, the alarm clock wakes me, as usual at 7.30am.
So I didn't lose an hour of sleep saturday night -- I gained an hour (actually an hour and a half) of sleep sunday night.
Of course, not everybody is like me (the world would be a better . . . ) but it's very clear that many more people must gain sleep time sunday night, than lose sleep time saturday night.
So whatever is causing the rise in accidents on the monday following the "Spring-Forward" change, it's not lack of sleep.
Considering we're lucky to get 9 hours of daylight in December I don't think it makes that much of a difference.
Since you are talking about spring forward, when you wake up at your natural 8 hours of sleep on that Sunday morning, it's actually 9am, not 7am. Now, how ready are you to go to bed early Sunday night to make up that sleep when you have basically been up an hour less. The whole point about the losing an hour or gaining an hour of sleep is for people who get up at a specific time. The reason they do it on Saturday night/Sunday morning, is generally people aren't as required to get up at a specific time Sunday morning as they are the rest of the week.
I prefer Daylight Savings Time in the summer. I'd like them to move the clocks 2 hours ahead. I'd prefer daylight until after 10pm for most of the summer. If we left things at Standard time all year, it would be light before 4am in June and early July. Great I guess if you want to get in a quick 18 holes before work.
Personally, it means I can drive to work in something like daylight once more. There are many more daylight-dependent activities in the world than kids play, which is why we move the clocks and benefit/inconvenience everyone equally, and don't just re-jig the school day by an hour as the seasons change.
This way you don't have to beg your boss for flex-time semi-annually so you can get home to supervise the little Sky-Riders.
Three facts to consider.
Toronto is about 3/4 west in the Eastern Time Zone hence Toronto gets later sunrises and sunsets regardless of Daylight Saving Time.
Time zone decisions are most often based on political and economic considerations rather than astronomical factors.
Many parents like for elementary age children to be heading off to school in the light rather than before sunrise.
Toronto is about 3/4 west in the Eastern Time Zone hence Toronto gets later sunrises and sunsets regardless of Daylight Saving Time.
Time zone decisions are most often based on political and economic considerations rather than astronomical factors.
Many parents like for elementary age children to be heading off to school in the light rather than before sunrise.
Although true as to when the U.S.A. adopted DST, Great Britain had actually adopted it before that, under the Summer Time Act 1916 (6 & 7 Geo. V), which was implemented 21 May 1916.
Exactly what I was saying when I pointed out that the amount of day light a place on the earth is dictated by it's latitude and the relationship of the earth to the sun. and WoodPeckr's image illustrates the point perfectly.
Cheers
Not the parents I know. They much prefer more daylight at the end of the schoolday so the kids can play outdoors and walk around safely rather than be confined indoors glued to their computer and grow fat.
Much easier to change local school hours than all the clocks in the country, never mind the continent.
Go for it.
I remember about 15 years ago, we drove to Nova Scotia for my sister's wedding. The wedding was the last weekend of June, and we drove down a few days ahead, so that time of year was the longest daylight hours. We were driving through Quebec at night and we were heading across that annoying 2 lane highway 185. Considering we were at the eastern end of the time zone, I knew sunrise would be early, but I was pretty surprised to see people golfing at 3am in Cabano. It wasn't daylight, but it was doable. I was a night shift worker back then, so I thought it would be pretty cool to have the sun come up then. But like I posted above, nowadays, I'd rather the daylight in the evening rather than the morning.
