Why did DST ever start?
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. And the chief adversary of
daylight saving time in the United States is the
Farm Bureau. 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
current 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 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 Willit, 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reason it was repealed was because of an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.
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TIME IS ON MY SIDE
The Rolling Stones
Time is on my side, yes, it is.
Time is on my side, yes, it is.
Now you were saying that you want to be free
but you'll come runnin' back, you'll come runnin' back,
you'll come runnin' back to me.
Time is on my side, yes, it is.
Time is on my side, yes, it is.
You're searching for good times but just wait and see,
you'll come runnin' back, you'll come runnin back,
you'll come runnin' back to me.
Go ahead..go ahead and light up the town!
Baby, do everything your heart desires..
remember, I'll always be around.
And I know like I told you so many times before
you're gonna come back, baby..
you're gonna come back knockin' right on my door.
Time is on my side, yes, it is.
Time is on my side, yes, it is.
'Cause I got the real love, the kind that you need.
You'll come runnin' back, you'll come runnin' back,
you'll come runnin' back to me.
Time time time is on my side, yes, it is.
Time time time is on my side, yes, it is. (repeat &
fade)
Get the USNO Master
Clock
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real audio
End Daylight Savings
time!
It's
about TIME!
Daylight
Savings Time!
USNO
Master Clock Time.
Martha
revisits Daylight Savings Time.
Pedestrian
Fatalities and Daylight Saving Time.
DST
2002
Grandfather's Clock.
HAPPY 2002
REMEMBERING BLUEGRASS DAYS
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