Daylight saving time officially began at 2 a.m.
on Sunday, March 12, 2017. Clocks shifted forward one hour as mandated by
the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Some will gripe about losing an hour of sleep, while
others are excited about the extra hour of daylight in the afternoons that DST
affords.
Daylight saving time (not "savings") has
been a contentious issue worldwide since it was first conceived by Benjamin
Franklin in 1784.
Here are a few surprising things about the time
change and the ripple effects caused by it:
-Railroads helped start more uniform time zones in
the U.S., voting in 1883 to adopt a standard time.
-Before railroad time, cities used to set their own
time, leading to confusion, especially when traveling. At one time there
were 100 railroad time zones in the U.S. alone.
-Although the railroads adopted standard time in
1883, it was not made the law of the land in the U.S. until the Act of March
19, 1918, also known as the Standard Time Act.
-Daylight-saving time came and went in the 20th
century but was used year-round from 1942 until 1945.
-As of 2007, daylight time begins in the United
States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
-According to David Prerau's book "Seize the
Daylight," trains always adhere to their published schedules, so when it's
time to "fall back" all Amtrak trains that are running on time stop
in their tracks and wait an hour before resuming. When it's time to spring
forward the trains automatically fall behind schedule at 2 a.m. but just have
to do their best to make up the lost time.
-Reuters reported
that a psychology journal in December published results showing that
federal judges handed out sentences that were on average 5 percent longer the
day after daylight saving time began than those given out one week before or
after.
-According to National Geographic Nielsen TV ratings
during the hours impacted by the change to daylight saving time show large
declines during the first week of DST--as much as 10 to 15 percent, even for
popular shows.
-A study by Hardee's fast-food chain estimated that
extending DST would increase sales by $880 a week per store.
-A 2015 report by the Brookings Institution found
that, on the first day of daylight saving time, robbery rates fall by an
average of 7 percent.
-Canada experimented with "double daylight
saving time" in 1988 and set clocks ahead by two hours at one time in
order to capitalize on the long hours of sunlight in the northern latitudes.
DDST didn't stick, however.
-Even Antarctica, where there is no daylight in the
Southern Hemisphere winter and a stretch of 24-hour daylight in the summer,
observes DST at some of its research stations in order to keep the same time as
suppliers in Chile or New Zealand.
-As late as 1965 the observation of DST was still
not uniform across the U.S. According to National Geographic in Minnesota, St.
Paul was on one time, Minneapolis was on a different time, and Duluth was on
Wisconsin time. There was even a Minneapolis office building in which the
different floors of the building were observing different time zones because
they were the offices of different counties.
-In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight has been
increasing since the December solstice. Daylight will continue to increase
until the summer solstice, which falls on June 20 at 11:24 p.m. CDT.
Standard time resumes on Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
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