Dear Editor:
Ending the disruptive bi-annual clock change is great! But making Daylight Savings Time (DST) permanent is not. The change should be to year-round Standard Time.
Using DST in the winter will mean that children catching the bus in the morning will be doing so in the dark – a dangerous proposition. It might also result in an increase in morning traffic in cities, since parents won’t want their children walking to school in the dark.
Switching our winters to DST will also affect constructions workers – including road workers, where safety is an issue. Farmers would prefer to stay on Standard Time, since it’s in sync with the sun. Our biological clocks are also in sync with the sun. Later sunrise in the winter (as late as 8:30) could result in people being chronically late for work or chronically sleepy and prone to errors and accidents.
Other areas of Canada that don’t have a biannual clock change are on Standard Time year-round. Parts of Quebec are also on Standard Time, and Bill 214 requires that Quebec (and New York) make the same change as Ontario before we are able to proceed.
A number of areas, including the UK, Russia and some states in the U.S., have tried switching to DST year-round – and dropped it, going back to bi-annual clock changes. Clearly this means DST wasn’t beneficial in the winter months.
It’s the biannual time change itself – not using standard time – that results in negative effects such increased depression, heart attacks, strokes (according to studies). And we can remedy that by switching to Standard Time year-round. We already have lots of light in the summer.
We need to reconsider this bill in favour of using Standard Time year-round.
Marg Gollinger,
Alma