Why not Daylight Saving Time all year?

Question

I get the logic of "springing forward" (sports can go longer into the night, better for retail, arguably better for energy usage) but why not stick to that time all year? Why does it need to become dark at 4 rather than 5 in northern locales? I've always thought this sucks. What's the advantage of the winter "fall back"?

Answer 1

Here in Arizona, we have no Daylight Savings Time. We manage quite nicely on MST all year. Why bother with DST ?

Answer 2

This was tried in the 1970's.

The problem was that due to Daylight Savings Time, sunrise came in northern areas of the US after 8:00 am creating a safety problem for kids going to school and commuters going to work. These areas have only about 8 hours of daylight to work with in December. So the decision was made, that in the winter the clock should be on standard time.

Also, if the choice were made to not "spring ahead", sunrise in some areas could happen as early as 4:00am in June.

Answer 3

Opaque, I'm with you.

I've always felt that it's better to let the sunrise come later in the mornings and use the extra bit of daylight at the end of the day for people getting home.

- Year-round daylight time would be better for those going Christmas shopping. It wouldn't get dark shortly after 4 p.m.

- Those who play winter sports would get an extra hour of daylight for their games.

- Although it wouldn't work in December, we'd have a bit of light in the late afternoons of late January, February and early March for outdoor activity. When Daylight Time started this year on March 11th, it's said that the number or people out of the house soared as everyone took advantage of the opportunity to get out and about.

Some places like Michigan, Indiana and Saskatchewan have this benefit already, by placing themselves in the far western part of their time zone. In Indianapolis, for instance, the sun goes down at 6:21 p.m. on the 15th of February, and 6:15 p.m. in Regina, Saskatchewan. In New York, where I am, the comparable time is just 5:30 p.m. I too would appreciate the extra hour of light in the late afternoons!

Answer 4

Dear Friend,

We spring forward in March in order to have more daylight in the evening. This is considered a good way to save on energy, due to the extra hour of light. Keep in mind, most of us arise as late as we can in the a.m., so use less energy then.

The idea of falling back was determined by school children's parents. It was considered too risky to have them waiting for school buses, or walking to school in total darkness.

In mid-North Carolina, in January the sun will rise as late as 7:45 a.m. EST. If we still had DST the sun would not rise until almost 9 a.m. In this case children will not start a class in daylight until their second hour.

For people with Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD) it would seem year around DST might be a godsend, still when faced with less than 10 hours of sunshine, very Little can help.

Finally, imagine living above the Arctic Circle, and living with six months of darkness. This makes both standard time and DST look pretty wonderful.

Respectfully,



Uncle Bear *:-))

Answer 5

well, im not sure if this has anything to do w/ it, or whether youll understand my explaination, but ill try.

when i was still in piano lessons, my teacher told me how in the early part of the year, the top part of the earth tilts towards the sun ( i think we were talking about seasons or something ) & how near the end of the year, the earth tilts its top away from the sun ( which i assume is also the reason 4 shadows 2b different lengths during different times of the year ) (it has an axis that it tilts on 2 spin around 2 create our "dayz" while it goes around the sun 2 make our "years"). as you are probly aware, different parts of the same side of the earth have different time zones becuz where the sun will be between low & hi in the sky in, say, Ontario, the sun wont be in the same position in Vancouver, becuz the earth is round. ( get a ball, & shine a flashlight on it & u might be able 2 understand this better. im doing the very best i can 2 explain it so u MIGHT be able 2 understand ) well, when the earth tilts it top 2wards the sun, the daylight hours will change a bit-which is why we adjust our clocks...so that time will still match the position of the sun-& when it tilts back away from the sun, we hafta change our clocks again so that the time CONTINUES to match the "time" that the sun suggests (if u get what i mean by the sun "suggesting" a certain time). im not sure how man decided what time it would be when the sun was just starting 2 peak in the horizon, or when it was about 2 disappear over the horizon, but after they "set" that time, because the earth tilts on its axis in the early part of the year & then in the later part of the year, it "backs" it top away from the sun, the sun wont be in exactly the same place all year long. ( you may have noticed that the daylight hours differ. depending on the time of year-like during the summer, the sun goes down very late @ nite, but in the winter, the sun goes down very early.--what im trying 2 say is; the daylight hours differ. because of the positions of the sun @ differ. times of the year. the days get longer in the summer, then get shorter in the winter.) we hafta adjust our clocks so that they continue 2 "match" the sun's position. the sun's hours as well as our clock hours, change. the sun goes down earlier in the winter, so the clocks go back awhile, & in the summer the sun goes down later, so the clocks get another hour. the "spring forward" is the days getting longer, the "fall back" is the days getting shorter.

does this make sense? (btw, she didnt actually tell me ALL of this, she only told me about the tilting 2wards & away-from part. i came up w/ the rest from education)

Answer 6

I think the government should just mandate that we have 8 hours of darkness and 16 hours of light every day all year long. Then we wouldn't have to change the clocks at all. Along day in winter would also keep it from getting so cold.

Answer 7

it goes back to the days when we were all farmers and needed the light in the morning so we had enough energy to brave the fields..

nowadays it's all about tradition and there really isn't any logical sense to it at all