Here is the statement I provided at the request of the staff from the House Energy & Commerce subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce:
Thank you for this opportunity to address you about the problems with Daylight Saving Time clock changing.
My name is Scott Yates, and I am the leader of the international movement known as Lock The Clock, otherwise known as a guy who writes blog posts in his spare time.
While the movement started as just a blog, it grew into a collection of research and testimony that I have provided that legislators around the country used to help pass laws in about half the states, states that are dominated by Republicans and Democrats. The clock works—and doesn’t work—for people all over the country just the same, except for those in Arizona, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
And what does that research show? There is no question: The change to the clocks in the Spring is deadly. Heart attacks, strokes, traffic and workplace accidents all spike up.
Next week people will die, be injured and hospitalized. And why?
Here is an instructive thought experiment. Imagine someone today proposed changing the clocks twice per year. That person would say that in doing so, we will place a drain on the economy, we will kill and injure many and annoy just about everyone. But it will be worth it because…
That is where the thought experiment becomes a clear lesson for us today. There is no benefit to changing the clocks twice per year. None.
You are all familiar with the history, that we started doing this during WWI to keep in time with the Germans. It went away after the war because the farmers all hated it. It came back in WWII, and somehow we have been stuck with it ever since.
With the current war in Ukraine, a look at the clocks is instructive. When Russia took over in Crimea, one of the first things it did was change the clocks by two hours so that they would be in synch with Moscow, which does not change twice per year. Ukraine wants to be in synch with Europe, so it continues to change twice per year. If the unimaginable happens and Ukraine becomes a puppet state of Russia, one of the ways we will know is that they will change the time to be lined up with Moscow.
All of this makes clear the very nature of what time actually is. In short, it is an agreement among people. We need a system so that we can live a modern life.
Right now the agreement that we call “time” is killing, injuring, and annoying people. Because it is an agreement, it is something that can be fixed, and it must be.
One last note:
While I started this odyssey to fix Daylight Saving Time eight years ago as a hobby, it has now grown into something more, as it is the signature issue for me as I seek elected office. (You can see much more at www.scottyates.com)
It is a great issue. I meet people every day, and tell them I want to fix this, and the reaction is nearly universal in excitement and enthusiasm. How many politicians can say that when they tell someone about their signature issue, they get a high-five as a response? I get one nearly every day.
The people are not just ready for this to happen, they are genuinely excited.
Thank you very much.