Quit changing the dam clocks.
Posted on 10/28/2015 12:17:14 PM PDT by MichCapCon
A pair of state lawmakers claim that daylight saving time hasn’t produced the benefits anticipated when Michigan adopted it 42 years ago, and isn’t worth the problems it causes. But any attempt to rearrange Michiganders’ time schedules has potential consequences and faces political hurdles.
The modern use of daylight saving time, the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour, was proposed in New Zealand in 1895. Several countries, including the United States, adopted the idea as a way to save energy during World War I. It has been used at other times, including during the oil embargo of the 1970s when, once again, it was considered as a way to save energy. Michigan adopted the practice in 1973 and has stuck with it ever since.
In March of this year, Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, introduced House Bill 4342, to get rid of DST and place the state on Eastern Standard Time year-round. Last week Rep. Peter Lucido, R-Shelby Township, introduced House Bill 4986 to do the same thing. Lucido says he is open to tweaking his bill to give some Upper Peninsula counties more flexibility. (Four U.P. counties that border Wisconsin are on Central Standard Time.)
“Daylight saving time hasn’t done what it was supposed to do, which was save energy as a result of needing to have less lights on,” Lucido said. “Empirical studies have shown that it hasn’t been effective in achieving that. Meanwhile, modern computers, servers and other electric devices that people rely on — including automobile clocks — don’t always make smooth adjustments to the twice-a-year time changes.”
“There is also the physiological effect the time switches have on people,” Lucido continued. “As a business owner I’ve seen the negative impacts the time changes can have. People are tired, tardy more often, don’t function as well and even suffer ill effects immediately after the changes.”
Some players in the tourism industry oppose the change, however, arguing that losing an hour of light on summer evenings would significantly hurt their businesses.
“This would be an industry killer for golf courses,” said Kate M. Moore, executive director of the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association said. “Golf courses rely heavily on golf leagues and most leagues are primarily supported by people who work in the day. The average round takes two and a half hours and without daylight saving time, operating golf leagues would be very difficult. This legislation would jeopardize about 50 percent of those businesses’ revenues.”
Lucido and Irwin said they wouldn’t be opposed to moving in the opposite direction of what their bills would do by using daylight saving time year-round. In essence, that would be putting Michigan on Central time.
“The problem comes with having to make the twice-a-year time changes,” Lucido said. “I’m OK with switching over to the daylight saving time hours all of the time. The issue is about making it consistent — it’s the changing that causes the problems.”
Irwin concurred.
“There are a lot of people who support making a change,” Irwin said. “It is well-documented that road and workplace accidents increase following the spring time switch and making that change each year actually has negative health impacts, including an increase in heart attacks.”
“But if the problem is a negative effect on the tourism industry, then, yes we could just change over to having the same hours we now have with daylight saving time all year,” Irwin continued. “The problems come when we have to keep changing the clocks. It’s a question of getting on one schedule and staying on it.”
Lucido also said, if possible, he’d like to see a time change take place in a manner that would allow polls to close throughout the state at the same time on election nights. In the four counties that are on Central time, polls in those counties close an hour later than the others in Michigan.
Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, represents the four counties that are currently on Central time. “The people I’ve talked with in my district have basically said leave it alone,” he said.
Casperson also pointed to the tourism industry’s concerns and added some additional ones.
“I seem to recall there being issues about kids having to go to school in the morning when it would still be dark out if we stayed on the daylight saving time schedule all year long,” Casperson said.
Irwin said he doesn’t believe that requiring children to go to school in darkness is an insurmountable issue.
“Look, it’s always cold and dark on winter mornings regardless of what we do,” Irwin said. “If that was the only obstacle I believe we could find ways to make accommodations to avoid the problem.”
When I went to Hillsdale, one of the popular radio stations was WOWO out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Indiana doesn’t do DST, so you’d get time checks that sound like this:
“It’s 7 o’clock. It’s 8 o’clock in Ohio and Michigan.”
Michigan is towards the Western end of the Eastern time zone, so this might make sense.
Think of all the alarm clocks and computers that will be so confused...: >)
Yeah, that’s the problem in Michigan. Daylight Saving Time.
I think the last sentence sums it up.
If this is the only obstacle you have , then yeah, count your blessings.
got to tell you i always thought DSL was dumb but now that my daughter is in middle school and catches the bus at 7:15AM EST i have a change of heart..
My problem with the hour change thingy is it is done because they say “Because we can.”
Quit changing the dam clocks.
I’ve read that daylight savings time goes back to Ben Franklin,to save candle wax.
Adding an hour much of the year has got to impact globull warming. /s
Pick a damn time and stick with it. If you want more daytime after work in the summer, lobby businesses to go to summer hours.
You not adjusting the sun, nothing changes there. Just leave the damn clocks alone.
Looking at a map, most of Michigan should be in the Central time zone anyway. Heck, during the summer up North, it doesn’t get dark until after 10 pm.
The sun would have been up an hour longer this morning prior to your daughter getting on the bus if we weren't on daylight savings time right now. So, if it's just now only daylight at, say, 7 AM, it will be daylight at 6 AM come Sunday (minus a few minutes for the shorter day overall moving closer to the Winter Solstice).
All we do when we turn back / forward clocks is substitute daylight in the evening for daylight in the morning.
Evening daylight is preferred by just about everyone.
Keep “Savings” time all year round as some states and cities are already doing.
Protect our evening daylight.
Lincoln Chaffee should have used this as a campaign issue.
Citizens started down the road to Big Government serfdom when they allowed lobbyists for restaurants and golf courses to pay their Congressmen to fool with the clock so they could pad their pocketbooks. Children suffer when they have to go to school in the dark just so some selfish adults can golf after work.
When do you want daylight? More of it in the morning or more of it in the evening? Me I would have sunset at 10:00 pm every day. That is impractical of course but I like having daylight after work until bedtime.
I am well acquainted with the school kids and farmer logic. Having been one a kid in a rural backwater and two worked in early start jobs such as construction and manufacturing and three having raised three kids, I still like daylight in the evening.
I have two kids one who lives on the back edge of EST and another who lives on the front edge of CST. The one in CST hates it. Like living on the front edge of anytime zone it is almost dark at 4:00pm in the winter and that just plain stinks.
Ditto..in spades
Living in 1 of the 4 counties in the UP of Michigan at 4:00 the county, state and city offices close as the eastern standard time is 5:00. It sucks when going to one of the offices because at 4:00 everything is closed. Except if you golf, the golf course is open and the DPW workers quit at 3:30 so they can leave at 4:00. Daylight savings time is a waste!
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