Is the Clock Ticking on Daylight Saving Time?
It was first conceived in 1784 by Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. It was first put into place in 1918 during World War I, stopped in 1919, and reinstalled during World War II. In 1966 Congress established that it would begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October. In 2007 the time period was changed to begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.
It's Daylight Saving Time (DST) which ends for 2017 at 2am this Sunday. What began as an energy-saving measure during two World Wars has become a hassle that more and more Americans are sick of. A 2014 Rasmussen poll found that just 33% of those polled believe the time change is worth it. That's down from 45% in 2012.
Many people believe we should just stay on DST the entire year. The Brookings Institute has reported that year-round DST would increase public safety. They report that when DST begins in the spring, "robbery rates for the entire day fall an average of 7 percent, with a much larger 27 percent drop during the evening hour that gained some extra sunlight." For us Shreveporters that would seem to be reason enough to observe DST all year long.
Here's another interesting factoid: Standard Time is a misnomer. We're actually on DST seven-and-a-half months of the year which in fact makes it "standard" time.
Chances are that in the next few years, there will be changes in how we observe time in the U.S. A special commission in Massachusetts has recommended that the state switch to year-round observance of DST. If they can convince a few more New England states, it's likely to happen.
But as it is, Sunday morning at 2:00 we'll fall back one hour to Central Standard Time here in the Ark-La-Tex. Whether you're for the time switch or not, I think we can all agree that it's a good thing to get that extra hour of sleep.