Springing Forward

Just a few short weeks ago, we got to “spring up” by setting our clocks forward one hour due to Daylight Savings Time (DST). Usually, this change results in little more than people being a little tired on the Sunday morning of the time change and the occasional unaware family showing up to church an hour late. But, after a few days, most people rejoice over the extra hour of sunlight and enjoy coming home from work and having the sun still high in the sky.

The Origins of Daylight Savings Time

In ancient times, many civilizations including the Romans, Greeks and Hebrews adjusted their schedules to take advantage of spring and summer daylight. In 1784, Ben Franklin once wrote an anonymous letter to the city of Paris asking them to consider rising and going to bed earlier to take advantage of morning sunlight and to reduce the amount of unnecessary candle burning in the evening. Although he did advocate a change in behavior, Franklin didn’t suggest any changes to the clock because 18th-century Europe had yet to adopt the formalized timetables we enjoy today.
By the 19th century with the invention of the train and the modernization of industry, standardized clocks came into wider use and, of course, people were still wasting their productive morning hours by sleeping in. Eventually, in 1908, the idea of setting the clocks forward was formally proposed by Robert Pearce who introduced the first Daylight Savings Time (DST) bill to British Parliament. The bill failed and the first countries to eventually adopt DST would be Germany and its allies during World War 1 who thought the extra daylight would help to conserve coal for the war effort. The United States would eventually adopt DST in 1918.

The Pros and Cons of DST

As with the “save your candles” rationale posed by Ben Franklin to Parisians in 1784, one of the major reasons countries and states began to adapt to DST is for energy savings. The theory is that with more daylight hours being utilized, people would use less artificial light and cities would save money on street lighting and other energy costs. Being that energy consumption en masse is a little hard to pin down to specific causes; studies have been inconclusive as to whether DST has actually saved municipalities a significant amount of money. Some actually believe DST leads to increased gas consumption because the extra hours of daylight give people more reasons to travel.

Although energy reduction has proved inconclusive the positive economic effects are well-proven. With more daylight hours at their disposal, consumers shop more often and enjoy more outdoor leisure activities while prime-time television viewing and movie theater attendance sees a decrease.

When it comes to public safety, the greater visibility during evening commutes results in an approximately 2% decrease in traffic fatalities and in 1995 the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety noted 5% reduction in pedestrian fatalities as well. Although some feared more daylight would increase potential crime activity, additional visibility makes it difficult for criminals to do their dastardly deeds so DST has, in fact, lowered crime rates.

So, next time you get into an argument over DST with a friend or relative from a non-DST-supporting municipality like Arizona, let them know that overall, DST is a good thing. When it all boils down, who can complain about an extra hour of sunshine on a spring or summer day?