The annual shift to daylight saving time, when clocks in the United States are advanced one hour from standard time, takes place Sunday (March 13) at 2 a.m.
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On this edition of Legal Matters, Attorney Tom Fitzgerald from Kalfus & Nachman joined us on The Hampton Roads Show to discuss what that extra hour of daylight means behind the wheel. Actually, if we forget to perform the ritual of changing the clocks ahead Saturday evening, when Sunday morning comes, the world will be an hour ahead of us. S. states (Arizona and Hawaii don’t use it), will end November 6, the first Sunday after Halloween. Like it or not, on Sunday, daylight saving time (DST) begins in Utah.
Spring forward; fall back. We will “lose” an hour.
Easter dates fluctuate wildly each year and can be any time between the end of March and the end of April.
University of British Columbia economist Werner Antweiler has looked at the pros and cons of Daylight Saving Time and says there are plenty of good reasons to get rid of it. “On the Wednesday before the time change, go to bed 15 minutes earlier”, Breus suggests.
However, this is the first time that daylight saving has been specifically investigated as a risk factor. Proponents have proclaimed DST’s benefits, including saving energy, reducing automobile accidents, providing more daylight for outdoor activities, cutting crime, and many others. For many people the amount of light outside at any particular time has absolutely no effect on their work day.
Between and after the wars, states and communities chose whether or not to observe daylight saving time until 1996 when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the length of daylight saving time. Just to make things interesting, our day begins in the middle of the Pacific, and our time keeping is based in Greenwich, England.
Three large regions in Australia do not participate in daylight saving time.
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Last year, the Times published an article from the Washington Post citing difficulties in scheduling for airlines and trains caused by DST. The remaining south-central and southeastern sections of the continent (where Sydney and Melbourne are found) make the switch. This still does not explain how they came up with some of the time zone boundaries.
