By Alexis D. Vega
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
Remember to turn your clocks forward one hour before you hit the sack Saturday night. Daylight saving time begins Sunday. The time will change at 2 a.m.
Although the idea for daylight saving time was conceived by Benjamin Franklin, the actual time change was not implemented until 1918 as a wartime measure during World War I.
The time change affected many farmers’ work production so they were opposed to the change.
Agrarian elements led the movement for the 1919 repeal of national daylight saving time, which passed after Congress voted to override President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.
Daylight saving returned with World War II. After the war ended, a few weeks passed and the daylight saving concept was then repealed again.
Today, daylight saving is used in many states to reduce the amount of energy needed for artificial lighting during evening hours, an astronomy professor said.
“People tend use lights less when they’re home during the time change,” Roger Stanley said.
According to www.timeanddate.com some studies show that daylight saving time could lead to fewer road accidents and injuries by supplying more daylight during the hours more people use the roads.
“Some states do not have to recognize it,” Stanley said. “It’s based upon the state’s laws.”
States such as Hawaii and Arizona do not recognize the time change. U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands also remain on standard time year-round.
The benefit to the ‘spring forward’ in time is that we will have an extra hour of light in the evening. The downside is getting bodies used to the time change.
“You have a whole week to get used to the change, during spring break, so students won’t be late for class on Monday,” Stanley said.