End daylight saving time, don’t extend it
Utah’s legislature has passed a bill implementing daylight saving time year-round. That’s madness.
I’m tired (literally) of getting up and about in the dark in the early spring. I get bugged even more when it’s pitch black until 8 a.m. in October and early November and I don’t see the sun until 9 a.m.
I’m not one of the minority that participates in outdoor activities at 8 or 9 p.m. on summer evenings. Instead, I’m annoyed when it’s still light while I’m winding down in the evening.
Why should we have to wait until 10 p.m. or later to enjoy fireworks on the Fourth of July?
Furthermore, I don’t like losing an hour of sleep in the spring. And in the fall when daylight saving ends, I wake up an hour too early and don’t know what to do with myself.
I’m not alone in these feelings. In a 2014 survey conducted by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, almost 67 percent of respondents favored staying on Mountain Standard Time year-round. Only 15 percent wanted all-year daylight saving time.
So who is the legislature listening to? A glance at those in favor of daylight saving time tells the story: Lagoon Corporation, Utah Tourism Industry Association, Ski Utah, and a number of chambers of commerce.
For these folks, giving us more daylight to spend our money is at the top of their list. Stumbling around in the morning darkness is our problem.
The daylight saving idea was first proposed by New Zealander George Hudson and was adopted by Germany during World War I to save on the coal used to provide residential lighting.
There are a number of pro and con arguments about daylight saving, but residential and commercial lighting savings these days are balanced out against increased morning lighting and higher air conditioning and gasoline consumption costs.
Health factors are weighing on Utah’s legislators. Individuals who are outdoors in the evening benefit from additional evening exercise time. More evening light may help some avoid depression. Evening light results in fewer automobile-pedestrian accidents.
But since the amount of available daylight doesn’t vary with how we choose to set our clocks, evening health benefits are offset by corresponding morning problems. Add to those the disruption of our natural circadian rhythms, which often take a week or more to adjust.
A 2014 study led by the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center found that the number of heart attacks goes up 24 percent on the Monday following the “spring forward.”
Utah Medical Association CEO Michelle McOmber told legislators that resetting clocks “significantly impacts’ heath” for the worse.
Our legislature’s bill to adopt daylight saving time year-round would address McOmber’s health concerns. But I’m with southern Utah Sen. Don Ipson, who opposed the bill. Here’s why.
For Utah, especially southern Utah, our geography cries out for staying on standard time year-round. St. George is located only 25 miles from the western edge of the Mountain Time Zone. Mesquite and the rest of the state of Nevada are in the Pacific Time Zone.
As a result, sunrise and sunset already occur 42 minutes late in southern Utah. That is, while one would expect sunrise to occur about 6 a.m. on the first day of spring, instead it occurs at 6:42 a.m. Likewise, sunset is also 42 minutes late. For Salt Lake City, sunrise and sunset are both 36 minutes late.
With daylight saving time in December and January, the sun would rise at about 8:45 a.m. and set by 6:30 p.m. or so. How many folks would be outside enjoying the extra hour of evening daylight?
Because of our location in the Mountain Time Zone, Utah has a lot of built-in, year-round daylight saving already. Adding another hour is over the top.
Supporting or opposing daylight saving time is a personal lifestyle issue. State funding is not involved. So why not ask Utah voters instead of business interests to decide if they want to stick to standard time all year like Arizona does or go to daylight saving year-round or keep the status quo?
I’m ready for my vote to be counted: Let the people choose to “save” daylight in the evening or “spend” it in the morning.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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Yay Howard! I agree.