Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / What to know about the latest push to make daylight saving time permanent
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: It's a debate that has consumed a lot of time literally,
- 0:03Speaker 1: But yesterday Congress took its biggest step yet toward ending
- 0:07Speaker 1: the twice yearly changing of the clocks. The House passed
- 0:10Speaker 1: the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time
- 0:13Speaker 1: permanent nationwide. The bipartisan bill now heads to the US Senate,
- 0:17Speaker 1: where a similar effort stalled several years ago. For more
- 0:21Speaker 1: on the push to stop changing the clocks, we are
- 0:23Speaker 1: joined now by Scott Yeats, founder of the Lock the
- 0:26Speaker 1: Clock Alliance. Scott, it's always good to see. So you've
- 0:29Speaker 1: been pushing for this for years. We've seen momentum before,
- 0:32Speaker 1: it's not become law. Why might this time be different?
- 0:37Speaker 2: Well, we've never seen it pass the House before. I mean,
- 0:39Speaker 2: it's never gotten the floor for even to be able
- 0:42Speaker 2: to have a vote. So this is just a huge
- 0:44Speaker 2: step forward. And I think it shows the kind of
- 0:46Speaker 2: momentum that we have, and I think it shows the
- 0:49Speaker 2: excitement over an issue that's actually by partisan I was
- 0:54Speaker 2: pleased to see a wide margin both among Republicans and
- 0:57Speaker 2: Democrats voting for it. So I think with that kind
- 0:59Speaker 2: of a mental and we can go over to the
- 1:01Speaker 2: Senate and say, look, this is what the people want,
- 1:03Speaker 2: and clearly that's reflected in state legislatures across the country
- 1:07Speaker 2: and in the House bout yesterday.
- 1:09Speaker 1: In your view, what do we gain by stopping the
- 1:12Speaker 1: twice yearly changing of the clocks.
- 1:14Speaker 2: One of the things I was really encouraged to hear yesterday.
- 1:16Speaker 2: We're all different politicians getting up and talking about the
- 1:19Speaker 2: health determents of the clock changing. You know, it wasn't
- 1:23Speaker 2: that long ago that we just thought of changing the
- 1:25Speaker 2: clocks for daylight saving time. It was kind of annoyance,
- 1:28Speaker 2: but we didn't think of it as deadly. But now
- 1:30Speaker 2: the research is really clear that it really is deadly
- 1:32Speaker 2: and very disruptive. It's bad for schools, it's bad for businesses,
- 1:36Speaker 2: it's bad for everybody. The only thing that we don't
- 1:39Speaker 2: agree on is completely is on which time zone we
- 1:42Speaker 2: should be locking into. But I think we've got a
- 1:44Speaker 2: solution to be able to address that without having to
- 1:48Speaker 2: have the clock change twice a year, which is what
- 1:51Speaker 2: I think most people actually are the most interested in.
- 1:54Speaker 2: Is just they don't really care that much which one
- 1:56Speaker 2: we walk into. They just don't like the switching.
- 1:58Speaker 3: Well, what's the solution. The solution is.
- 2:00Speaker 2: Actually an amendment that I proposed back when it was
- 2:02Speaker 2: in the Senate last year to have a two year
- 2:05Speaker 2: implementation period. And what that allows is for each state
- 2:09Speaker 2: to be able to have enough time, and the school
- 2:11Speaker 2: boards to weigh in, and everybody in a state to
- 2:14Speaker 2: be able to say, look, this is a time that
- 2:16Speaker 2: makes the most sense for us. You know, anybody that
- 2:19Speaker 2: says they've got a perfect solution that works for every
- 2:21Speaker 2: state in the country has some other agenda they're trying
- 2:24Speaker 2: to push. Saying that you've got the exact right solution
- 2:27Speaker 2: that works for Massachusetts and also works for Indiana. Well,
- 2:31Speaker 2: that's just not possible. So I think if we have
- 2:34Speaker 2: a two year implementation, which is an amendment that was
- 2:37Speaker 2: accepted and is now part of the Senate version, that
- 2:39Speaker 2: would give people of for instance, Indiana and Michigan, a
- 2:42Speaker 2: couple of states that I think would be really well
- 2:44Speaker 2: served to be on permanent standard time to be able
- 2:47Speaker 2: to make that decision.
- 2:49Speaker 1: Senator Tom Cotton, as you will know, he has opposed
- 2:52Speaker 1: permanent daylight saving time.
- 2:53Speaker 4: Here's part of what he said. I'm moving the clock
- 2:56Speaker 4: back an hour in winter. Permanent daylight savings time would
- 3:00Speaker 4: push winter sun rises to an absurdly late hour, depriving
- 3:05Speaker 4: Americans of morning sunshine that's essential for our safety and
- 3:09Speaker 4: well being.
- 3:10Speaker 1: So under permanent daylight saving time, eighty seven percent of
- 3:13Speaker 1: Americans would see winter sunrises after eight am. There's also
- 3:17Speaker 1: this nineteen seventy four experiment with permanent daylight saving time,
- 3:21Speaker 1: when dark winter mornings were linked to an increase in
- 3:23Speaker 1: pedestrian accidents involving children walking to school. How do you
- 3:28Speaker 1: answer those safety concerns?
- 3:30Speaker 2: Well, once they actually did the research about what happened
- 3:33Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy four, they found that there really wasn't
- 3:36Speaker 2: much of an increase in pedestrian deaths. And they've studied
- 3:40Speaker 2: a lot since then, And if you're interested in pedestrian safety,
- 3:43Speaker 2: there's no question that permanent daylight saving time is the
- 3:47Speaker 2: more safe alternative. More late for pedestrians later in the
- 3:50Speaker 2: day equals fewer pedestrian fatalities. But you know, with respect
- 3:55Speaker 2: to Tom Cotton says, one person's absurdly late, another person's
- 4:01Speaker 2: that's just fine. A lot of people, especially in rural areas,
- 4:05Speaker 2: are already getting up in the dark, and when it's
- 4:07Speaker 2: in the winter, and they're already going to school in
- 4:09Speaker 2: the winter, especially if they have sports, And what a
- 4:11Speaker 2: lot of those people have told me is they don't
- 4:14Speaker 2: want to go to school and go to work in
- 4:15Speaker 2: the dark and come home in the dark, which is
- 4:17Speaker 2: what they're doing now. So if they can go to
- 4:19Speaker 2: school and work in the dark and come home with
- 4:21Speaker 2: a little bit of light so that they can have
- 4:23Speaker 2: a little bit of time to play outside at the
- 4:25Speaker 2: end of the day, that's all the better. But my
- 4:27Speaker 2: view is it's not up for us to say. I
- 4:29Speaker 2: think it's right for the Congress to say we should
- 4:32Speaker 2: stop switching twice a year, but it's appropriate for each
- 4:35Speaker 2: state to have the discussion and decide which time zone
- 4:37Speaker 2: they want to look into permanently. It's a state's right issue,
- 4:41Speaker 2: which is something I think Senator Cotton would agree with.
- 4:43Speaker 1: Here's a history question. There is this longstanding myth that
- 4:46Speaker 1: daylight saving time originated with farmers. How did that misconception
- 4:50Speaker 1: take hold and where did it originate?
- 4:53Speaker 2: You know, it originated from a retailer in Boston who
- 4:57Speaker 2: thought that if people had more time more daily at
- 5:00Speaker 2: the end of the day, there would spend more time shopping.
- 5:02Speaker 2: But he didn't want to say that, so he said,
- 5:04Speaker 2: let's say it's the farmers, and that myth has stuck
- 5:08Speaker 2: with us all the way through.
- 5:09Speaker 1: Scott Yeats, founder of the Lock the Clock Alliance. Always
- 5:12Speaker 1: good to speak with you.
- 5:13Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Thank you, Joe.
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