Eliminating Daylight Saving Will Not Reduce Violent Crime

Abstract

In March 2022, the Senate unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act, making Daylight Saving Time (DST) a permanent fixture in the United States. Essentially, this leads to longer days in winter, but later sunrises in summer.[1] In the past, nationwide polls rejected permanent DST. During the national energy crisis in 1974, the federal government initiated nationwide permanent DST for two years. However, the winter DST quickly lost favor for safety reasons. Most people detested going to work on dark winter mornings, and parents especially detested sending children to school in the dark, walking the poorly lighted streets or waiting for buses on dark roads. Although nationwide polls showed DST popular for most months, the winter months of November through February generated very dark mornings, causing Congress to agree with the national rejection poll of a permanent DST and by 1976, Congress eliminated permanent DST.

[1] Patteson, Callie. “Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent.” New York Post, New York Post, 15 Mar. 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/03/15/senate-unanimously-passes-bill-to-make-daylight-saving-time-forever/.