OUR TIME DANCE - What Do You Think of Making Daylight Savings Time Permanent?

[GailL1]

Something to think about as we sip our coffee - 

I am curious what people think of Daylight Savings Time - Should it be made permanent or do we keep doing this "fall back / spring forward" every year.

I have a (rather old) "bird clock" and in order to keep the bird sounds correct, it is a big deal to change it twice a year or else I have one of the owls belching out whippoorwill songs - have to do it right or it gets really messed up.

This year in March the Senate passed "The Sunshine Protection Act" (bipartisan) a move that could make daylight saving time permanent in 2023, but the bill hasn’t been voted on by the House.

The way it goes, as I understand it, is that various states can approve making DST permanent, as many have, but until it is passed by Federal legislatures, it is only a paper thing.  

This link gives many of the pros and cons of leaving DST in place all year -  it also has numbers on how many Americans feel about it.  

Axios 11/05/2022 - Clocks "fall back" tonight: Blame Congress if you're sick of it

Like (from the link)

Context: A new study in the journal Current Biology predicts that year-round daylight saving time could prevent 36,550 deer deaths, 33 human deaths, 2,054 human injuries and $1.19 billion in collision costs annually.

Now I am interested in what you think - ??????????   Personally, I would like it.

[CeciliaVFX]

I want them to pick a time and stick with it. I hate this changing nonsense. There's no good reason. I really don't care which one they pick. Just pick it and then leave the rest of us alone, already 

[LeeS4949]

Im actually good either way. Just get it where the majority is comfortable and leave it alone.

[Rhymesometimes]

@DaveMcK  I would love not having daylight savings time any more.  In Arizona, we don't have it.

[KellytheBelly]

Sorry, but to me there's something really awesome to living when I can gain a whole hour this weekend. I know, it's borrowed time, yet, still... I like it. It's something I look forward to. Standard Time is the one that should be permanent. You get better sleep, core rhythms, etc... And, 'No,' to Daylight Saving Time. By the way, it's Daylight Saving Time (not Savings). 🙂

[DaveMcK]

This is a great positive for going to permanent daylight savings time.

Like (from the link)

"Context: A new study in the journal Current Biology predicts that year-round daylight saving time could prevent 36,550 deer deaths, 33 human deaths, 2,054 human injuries and $1.19 billion in collision costs annually."

[GailL1]

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@DaveMcK wrote:

This is a great positive for going to permanent daylight savings time. . . . . . 

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Of course, it is - to you and me and probably 50% +/- of others - but then there is the other 50%+/- that want standard time and not DST. 

This is a perfect simple example of how divided we are; rather than united - there are a rash of news articles right now on the pros and the cons of each side - standard time vs DST.   More interesting info follows on the history of this quest to find the most united time for all of us.

Today, Two states — Hawaii and most of Arizona — already observe permanent standard time (the time between November and March), meaning they don’t change their clocks at all.   Arizona and Hawaii just change time zones rather than pick one over the other.  Arizona shifts from the Pacific Time Zone to the Mountain Time Zone, while Hawaii transitions to five hours behind Eastern Time from six hours behind.  

The Hill via Nexstar Media News;  10/15/2022 - Daylight saving time: These states want to stop chang...

from the link ~ 

Under current federal law, the U.S. as a whole can only abandon the twice-yearly changing of the clocks if Congress enacts a federal law, or a state or local government submits detailed information  to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation “supporting its contention the requested change would serve the convenience of commerce.” 

. . . . Eighteen states have enacted legislation or resolutions to stay on daylight saving time permanently, pending approval by Congress or other neighboring states enacting similar legislation.

We actually did try going to only DST back in 1974 and it didn't go too well.  They did it back then for energy conservation.

Nexstar Media News:  03/16/2022 - Permanent daylight-saving time has been tried before – and it didn...

From the link ~

Daylight saving time in 1974

In a move to combat a national energy crisis in the United States, then-President Richard Nixon signed an emergency daylight saving time bill into law in late 1973 in an attempt to cut demand by extending daylight hours.

Public opinion of year-round daylight saving time was high leading up to the bill’s passage, The New York Times reported. The nearly 80% approval rate in December, 1973 would fall sharply in the months after, however.

Parents became worried about traffic accidents and the safety of their children, who were forced to go to school under winter darkness. By February, approval was at just 42%, according to the Times.

In October of 1974 President Gerald Ford signed a bill returning the nation to standard time for four months of the year.

CRAZY - right?!?

[carols190685]

I dislike daylight savings.  Didn't California just pass NO daylight savings? Think starts next year.