5 ms·

I think it’s better to switch to dst permanently

• dmd 2y ago
  if only the linked article had anything to say about that.
  • drewry 2y ago
    It does
    • dmd 2y ago
      yes that was my point
• popularrecluse 2y ago
  We already tried it in the 70's. People hated it. It was switched back. If we're going to bother again, we should at least go with standard time this instance.
  • busyant 2y ago
    Why not split the difference? As I like to say in some meetings when we come to a compromise ... "Is everyone equally unhappy now?"
    • popularrecluse 2y ago
      I guess that would be what we have today.
      • busyant 2y ago
        No. I mean ... instead of: * permanently staying on standard time * permanently staying on dst * shifting between the two every spring/fall we permanently stay at a time that's 30 minutes between standard and DST
        • NikkiA 2y ago
          The true answer is to shift by 5 minutes every weekend in spring and fall.
          • busyant 2y ago
            I can get behind this idea!
• tzs 2y ago
  Permanent DST has problems in the northern parts of the US. Consider Seattle as an example. In PST today, December 21, Sunrise was just before 8 am and sunset will be around 4:20 pm. Change that to PDT and we have sunrise just before 9 am and sunset around 5:20 pm. The coldest time of the day tends to be in the morning before sunrise. On foggy days the fog is more likely in the morning than in the evening. When it freezes the roads are more likely to be icy in the morning. Even if the air temperature doesn't get above freezing all day there is a chance that sunlight during the day might heat the roads enough to melt the ice by evening. Because of all this if you have to travel in the dark, whether as a driver or as a pedestrian or cyclist, you will generally prefer evening dark to morning dark. In addition to the asymmetry between morning and evening weather there is also an asymmetry in traffic intensity. Pick any two random people and compare what times they travel to and from work or school. Their morning travel times are more likely to be closer together than their evening travel times. Offices all start at about the same time, so you get office workers all coming at about the same time. Similar for elementary school start times, and middle schools start times, and high school start times. At the other end of the day first you've got schools getting out which generally happens a couple hours before offices let out. Second, workers tend to leave work over a wider range of times than they arrive. You've got people who stay late to get something done (much more common than people who go in early). You've got people who do errands after work before heading home. So at latitudes like that of Seattle permanent DST pushes the morning commute farther into worse weather and the morning commute is the one this is already the highest risk because it is the more concentrated commute and it is the one with the most overlap between adults driving for work and kids walking or biking for school. Permanent standard time also is better for our circadian rhythms than permanent DST. Most people here are too young to remember this, but the US tried year around DST in the '70s due to an oil supply disruption caused by war in the mideast. They thought permanent DST would lower energy consumption. It turns out it didn't have affect energy consumption much, but it was pretty much universally hated for the downsides I listed above and ditched after a year.
  • Zak 2y ago
    > Permanent DST has problems in the northern parts of the US. Then adjust the time zones so northern states are one zone earlier.