During 1918, the United States was in the midst of the First World War and had to conserve as many resources as it possibly could as part of the war effort. One resource it sought to save was time, and with the passage of the Standard Time Act, the United States began to practice daylight saving time. Daylight savings time was already practiced in Europe, where US troops were currently fighting, and the bill was relatively uncontroversial as it was argued that it would lead to better conservation of fuel and better align the US with its European allies. A little over a century later, this piece of legislation, which was passed to help a country through a war it was only involved in for 19 months, is still affecting Americans, and not just by separating their time zones. Every year, Americans have to set their clocks ahead one hour on the second Sunday of March, and with this, have to throw their bodies off the schedule they had spent months growing accustomed to. Seldom does one ever hear a good word spoken about this change, and often the positive effects which are said to come with it are not entirely visible. In spite of this, the tradition has continued, yet it very much doesn’t have to, and there are numerous reasons this dreaded ritual should be abandoned.
A trivia fact that’s probably been uttered thousands of times is that Arizona and Hawaii do not observe daylight saving time, and while this is well known, what’s less well known is why. While Hawaii’s geographic location near the equator simply makes the practice redundant, Arizona’s choice stems from the kind of environment the state has. Arizona is subject to incredibly intense heat, which can take a very high toll on its population. On account of this, setting clocks forward would force people to stay out in the already hard-to-bear heat significantly longer, increasing the chance for potential health risks. While nobody can deny that Arizona is subject to a much harsher climate than most other states, the intensity of the sun obviously doesn’t just decrease when crossing state lines, and its bordering states can be affected just as much by this harsher climate, with states which have more humid and wet heats in parts of the country like in the Southeast also being locations where staying out longer in the sun can be dangerous. It’s nearly impossible to find a part of the country that doesn’t lament its seasonal weather, and how awful its summers can be, so the struggle of the seasons under daylight saving time should very much be something that the entire country can agree to abolish.
Despite this, actual injury derived from high temperatures is something that thankfully isn’t seen too often and rarely results in fatalities. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the other major cause of harm, which results from daylight saving time: traffic accidents. The exhaustion that stems from losing an hour of sleep is a threat to those travelling at high speeds on the road, as it dulls the senses of drivers and has shown time and time again to result in more accidents. While the amount of accidents isn’t shown to increase throughout the entire period during which daylight saving time spans, on the days directly following the time change, risks for people with more sensitive or already disturbed circadian rhythms are much higher, and those who may not be able to combat their fatigue as easily (typically younger drivers as they are already at an age in which they receive less sleep than they need) are in much more danger.
Daylight saving time may also not be doing exactly what it aimed to do. Its goal was to save energy and fuel while the country was in the midst of an international conflict, and while the United States does find itself at war quite frequently, the limitations and sacrifices civilians have had to manage haven’t ever returned to the severity of the years when the United States was in a world war. America isn’t currently in the process of rationing its food or donating grease to help make bombs, yet it still makes a conscious effort to change its clocks twice a year. Even so, one could argue that fuel and energy saving is always a year-round help, and makes daylight saving time completely necessary. However, a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that energy savings only increased by about 1 percent, and Indiana, which only started observing daylight saving time in 2006, actually lost more money by engaging in the practice. Overall, daylight saving time is a nuisance to the majority of the public with its disruption of their bodies’ schedules, which in turn can raise safety issues, and its supposed benefit is negligible, with some states not even bothering to engage in it. It’s almost surprising that there hasn’t been a large-scale political movement against it, and given how non-partisan of an issue it is, it should be an easy target for America to eradicate.
Sources
https://www.thecongressproject.com/standard-time-act-of-1918
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/states-without-daylight-saving-time/
