The goal of making daylight saving time permanent is to be achieved by November 23, 2023. The US will never again beSpring forward or fall back if that happens.
The House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce is now considering the issue after the Senate voted in favor of it. Before the bill goes to President Biden for his signature, the full House of Representatives needs to vote in favor of permanent DST.
I found that Americans don't like Congress messing with their clocks. It makes sense to move to Daylight Saving Time year-round.
Critics of the time change have suggested that reverting to standard time would benefit society.
Research shows that Daylight Saving Time saves lives and prevents crime. The Senate unanimously passed a bill that will allow the laws to take effect if one state decides to move to Daylight Saving Time on different dates.
If Congress passes the measure to turn all clocks forward permanently, I see five ways that Americans will benefit.
Darkness in the evening is far deadlier than darkness in the morning.
The evening rush hour is more dangerous than the morning. More people are on the road, more alcohol is in drivers bloodstreams, people are hurrying to get home, and more children are playing outside. When the sun goes down, fatal vehicle-on-pedestrian crashes increase threefold.
The extra hour of sunlight in the evening is used to mitigate those risks. Standard time moves sunlight to the morning.
343 lives could be saved annually by moving to year-round Daylight Saving Time, according to a metastudy. Mornings would be riskier than afternoons.
A friend of crime is darkness. The impact of crime prevention is more pronounced in the evening than it is in the morning. This is true for crimes by juvenile delinquents, which peak in the after-school and early evening hours.
Criminals prefer to work in the dark. When the morning hours occur before sunrise, the crime rate is 30 percent lower.
A British study found that improved lighting in the evening could reduce the crime rate.
During World War I and II, the original justification for the creation of DST was to save energy for US troops, and later during the 1973 OPEC oil crisis. Peak energy loads are reduced when the Sun is out.
It takes less electricity to provide lighting in the evening and less oil and gas to heat homes and businesses in the summer, but it could increase cooling costs in the summer. 150,000 barrels of oil were saved by the US in 1973.
When the Sun sets, most people are awake and using energy. A large portion of the population is still asleep at sunrise, which results in less demand for energy.
In the early 2000s, when California experienced recurrent electricity shortages and rolling brownouts, some people in the state recommended permanent Daylight Saving Time.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy estimated that the US would have seen an energy savings of more than $4 billion and a decrease of carbon emissions by more than 10 million metric tons if permanent Daylight Saving Time had been in place more than a decade ago.
The biannual clock switch is bad for health and welfare.
It wreaks havoc with sleep cycles. In the week after the US springs forward in March, heart attacks increase by 24 percent. There is an increase during the week when the clock falls back.
A study from 2000 shows that the major financial market indexes average negative returns on the Monday after the clock switch.
Critics of biannual clock changing argue in favor of permanent standard time. The same sleep benefits are available year-round. Standard time does not offer the energy-saving, lifesaving, or crime prevention effects of DST.
Daylight and evening darkness affect recreation and commerce.
Americans are less willing to shop in the dark, and it is not easy to catch a baseball in darkness. Sunlight is not helpful in the early morning hours because these activities are more prevalent in the early evening.
The US Chamber of Commerce and organizations devoted to outdoor recreation favor extended daylight saving time. Family-owned stores suffered during the Pandemic. It helps to have more daylight to shop.
Some research shows the drawbacks of DST.
Sleep disruptions are the first concern.
The biannual clock shift is the main cause of the rhythm problems. Either permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time will solve that problem.
Standard time may be better for the rhythms of the body because the sun sets and rises earlier, but people's evening activities and routines are not likely to change in response.
150 years ago before electricity, people might have gone to bed earlier if the sunsets had been earlier.
Living in western portions of time zones has been associated with an increased cancer risk compared with those living in eastern portions. lifestyle choices, like diet and exercise, in different parts of time zones may explain the increased cancer risk.
Americans make a lot of decisions that have health risks, like eating red meat instead of broccoli and drinking alcohol instead of water. Despite their risks, we enjoy the benefits of those products. We enjoy and benefit from sun exposure and later nights even though we know they carry risks.
The switch to permanent Daylight Saving Time could be coupled with efforts to move school start times later in order to address another downside.
This would be a good idea for kids, regardless of time zone. Child safety measures for darker mornings, such as crosswalk lighting and more crossing guards, would help.
We should consider all of the benefits and not just the costs if the US adopts permanent Daylight Saving Time.
The story was originally published on March 4, 2019, but was updated on March 3, 2020.
Steve Calandrillo is a professor at the University of Washington.
This article is free to use under a Creative Commons license. The original article is worth a read.
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