WS Chronicle

Daylight saving time is controversial. That’s what Chris Pearce of Brisbane, Australia, author of a 400-page ebook on daylight saving time, says. He calls “The Great Daylight Saving Time Controversy” an encyclopedia.

We will be facing that issue on Sunday.

We all know the saying: Fall back (for standard time), spring ahead (for daylight saving time). That means in the fall, we turn clocks back an hour before we go to bed, thus getting an extra hour in the day. The new day would start when the clock says 2 a.m. We are to “spring ahead,” thinking of spring, and turn clocks forward an hour before we go to bed, thus losing an hour in the day. The new day would start when the clock says 2 a.m.

The saying does not reflect the controversial issue of time, though.

The author, in describing his book, says: “Daylight saving time has been described as one of the most controversial issues in modern history since it was first introduced nationally in 1916 by European countries on both sides of World War I to save fuel.” (Members of the public can obtain his book from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y2R5KQ7))

Daylight saving time has been touted as a way to save energy in the United States. That’s how we got the new timing of daylight saving time.

From the website of U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, comes the explanation:

“As part of the 2005 Energy Bill, Reps. [Fred] Upton and [Edward J.] Markey [D-Massachusetts] amended the Uniform Time Act of 1996 to increase the portion of the year that is subject to DST, providing longer hours of daylight and helping consumers cut back on peak-hour electricity usage. The Upton-Markey Amendment extended the duration of DST in the spring by changing its start date from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, and in the fall by changing its end date from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November.”

Upton was a champion of this change. His measure passed Congress and was signed into law.

The controversy in these parts could be with parents who have children going to bus stops in the dark under daylight saving time because the daylight comes later. Experts say more accidents happen because people are driving in the dark, which they are not used to that early, and fail to see students at the bus stops.

Whether you want to read a 400-page book on the subject or just don’t care one way or another about it, it’s coming. Watch out for daylight saving time and those students at the bus stops.