It’s time to get rid of Daylight Saving Time Clock-Changing
With the Spring Forward change coming up soon, the attention to Daylight Saving Time is ratcheting up.
But it seems a bit different this year.
Typically the attention from the media and most people is to just get the instructions, and move on.
Then in recent years there’s been more a sense of bemusement about the time change. People that talk about sticking with one time zone year-round get a nice pat on the head and a bit of a laugh.
There’s no question that Daylight Saving Time is comedy gold. Historians think Ben Franklin was joking when he suggested moving the clocks around to increase productivity.
Then this video that appeared last year was a huge hit, and justifiably so:
But I’ve noticed a subtle shift in the tone of the coverage and the sentiment this year. What is it?
Well, first there’s the coverage of the legal efforts to end the clock-changing.
At least a 14 states by my count have some kind of legislation in some level of discussion this year. The coverage is more sober than it’s been in the past. Before a typical story would begin with some trivial anecdote. Now the stories are more like this one from Alaska.
JUNEAU — A state Senate committee has advanced a bill that would exempt Alaska from daylight saving time, a measure that its sponsor said would be good for the health of state residents.
No bad puns. No winking references. Just a straight-up news story.
And it’s correct, too. From heart attacks and traffic accidents to problems for diabetics and those with sleep issues, there’s no question that changing the clocks is a huge public health concern.
And with the serious nature of the proposal comes resistance that’s just as serious. A different Alaskan legislator is now fighting the proposed change.
Of course, the biggest opponent to change is the United States Government, specifically the Department of Transporation.
The feds try to make it clear that they control the time zones, not the states. One state learned this very clearly. Other states will find out their efforts on this are doomed soon enough.
But the progress in the coverage reminds me of the great quote:
First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win.
(It turns out that Gandhi probably never said that, but it’s still a great quote.)
How will we win?
It’s hard to say for sure. Congress certainly doesn’t seem to hold any hope.
The state legislation percolating around the country has some promise, but each one is probably doomed by the Federal Department of Transportation.
In my home state of Colorado, a band of citizens has gotten approval to collect signatures and get a measure on the ballot for people to vote on.
I support this measure, even though I worry that all that work may be for nothing if the Feds reject this the same way they reject every other state-based effort. Supporters of that movement think that it will be analogous to the marijuana initiative: Not consistent with what the feds want, but allowed to exist anyway. Maybe they are right.
Perhaps this is Stockholm Syndrome or something, but I actually think the Feds have a point in wanting uniformity of time zones in the whole country. I don’t want people in New York to have to figure out if Denver is two or three hours different depending on the time of year. The disruption to transportation is real.
But the clock-changing must end.
That’s why I’m so pleased that some legislators are now working to pass this Resolution to end Daylight Saving Clock Changing.
It’s deceptively simple, even more simple than my original plan of trying to get states to pass a law. With this plan legislatures simply voice an opinion, an opinion supported by the wide majority of their constituents.
And if enough states pass this resolution it may act as just the bump that the Department of Transportation needs to recognize that interstate commerce is best served by keeping the states uniform AND by not allowing a time change that dramatically increases traffic accidents.
The data from the New England Journal of Medicine about increased heart attacks is compelling, but I can see bureaucrats from the Department of Transportation ignoring that. “Not my department.”
But traffic accidents? Doesn’t the DoT have a mission to ensure that we have a safe transportation system? Yes!
And does the science show irrefutably that the clock change creates an unsafe transportation system?
Yes again. The science about that last point is crystal clear, thanks to another Coloradan, a PhD candidate named Austin C. Smith, who used “regression discontinuity design” and other impressive-sounding techniques to prove that the sleep disruption and the sudden change of the sunrise and sunset relative to rush-hour simply kills people every year.
Let’s put it in very clear terms:
This Monday — right after the “spring forward” change — U.S. citizens will die.
They will die in traffic accidents to that their families will seem tragic. And those accidents will in fact be tragic because they are preventable.
There is no energy savings. There is no help to farmers. There is no safety issue for school children.
There is no sane reason to keep switching into and out of time zones other than the fact that we started doing it during World War I and somehow never really stopped.
There’s no humor in that. None.
And that is why they aren’t laughing at this idea any more. They may fight it, but that’s better than laughing at it, and certainly better than ignoring it.
The fight means we’ve almost won. It seems far off, but in the sweep of history it’s very near indeed. The Department of Transportation controls this, and could do something, but won’t until they hear clearly from the states that it’s time.
It is time.
What now?
If you agree, and haven’t yet taken any action, I suggest the following:
Good: Like, tweet, share this post
Better: Write your own post, update, status or whatever and share it with your legislators and other influencers.
Best: Contact your state legislator and urge them to introduce this Resolution.
I’ve gotten emails from legislators in four states now. This thing is happening, and you can be a part of this victory if you take some action right now.