It’s that time of the year when time is to be pushed forward by an hour in a bid to leap back into the world of Daylight Saving Time until November when a reversal will take place back to the Eastern Standard Time. The original reason behind this changes has always had with a push to conserve energy. Most people in the U.S will be forced to push forward their clocks by 60 minutes as part of the transition.
The switch is however starting to raise questions in the wake of recent studies indicating that fewer benefits were usually associated with the practice. A study carried out in the 1970’S by the Department of Transportation concluded that the total electricity savings as of result of the changes amounted to about 1% in the spring and fall months.
Experts have also warned of increased rates of accidents especially on the first Monday after the switch as motorists usually end up struggling with an hour less of sleep and darker than usual morning road conditions.
Utah representative, Lee Perry, is one of the legislatures fighting the Daylight Saving time practice as his sponsored bill seeks to have the Utahns ‘fall behind’ when other states make the switch. His bill seems to have stagnated and looks unlikely to go anywhere as it has yet to come out of the House Rules Committee. Lawmakers admit to having received submissions to end the practice, but the House Speaker maintains that making such a change could result in bigger ramifications than what many realize.
Arizona is one of the state’s that does not observe Daylight Saving Time and has done so, for about 40 years; a bill that sought to change this trend was shot down in January by an outpouring opposition. If Arizona is not going to change its practice, it awaits to be seen how many states will push to join it going forward.