It’s time change weekend – clocks go back one hour

VW independent staff

This weekend is when we “fall back” one hour to to Eastern Standard Time. The time change will officially occur at 2 a.m. Sunday, November 2. For many people, that means an extra hour of sleep.

Except for Arizona, Hawaii and several U.S. territories, Daylight Saving Time begins each year on the second Sunday in March when clocks are set forward by one hour. They are turned back to standard time on the first Sunday in November.

A number of states, including Ohio, have passed legislation or introduced bills to abolish the twice-a-year time change, however, approval at the federal level is needed to permit such action, and that doesn’t appear to be happending anytime soon.

An effort in Washington, D.C. to end the biannual changing of the clocks in the U.S. has once again stalled out in Congress. Earlier this year, the U.S. Sunshine Protection Act was reintroduced. It received bipartisan support and a committee hearing and even made it out of committee. However, it stalled in the U.S. Senate, meaning once again, no immediate change will occur.

Daylight saving time was originally enacted in 1918 to help save energy by giving more daylight in the evening hours, but it was repealed in 1919 then brought back during World War II. The Uniform Time Act was introduced in 1966 and became law that same year. Due to the energy crisis, year-round daylight saving time was used in 1974.

However, some studies have called into question the degree of energy savings. Various other studies have shown negative impacts on people’s health, including cardiac problems because of time changes, along with a higher number of automobile accidents and workplace injuries in the days after a time change.