As part of a continuing assignment, I was to adapt previously written op-eds on Daylight Saving Time into a speech. The setting was meant to be as if the Acting NIST Director to House Committee on Energy and Commerce had been addressing our PR Writing Class.

Set Your Clock, and America, Forward

An Argument for Year-Round Daylight Saving Time

Introduction

Thank you, Chairman Greg Walden, Vice Chairman Joe Barton and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, for inviting me to speak today.

And thank you, Professor Long, for taking time out of today’s class to allow us to meet—I recognize it’s unorthodox for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce meet in a Georgetown classroom.

With that said, when I took this class 20 years ago, I always appreciated anything that would take up time from going over the homework—I consistently had trouble with the rapport section of speech introductions, so hopefully this will save anyone from getting shamed publicly.

But, the reason I’m here is to prove to you how the U.S. would be much happier, healthier and financially sound if it were to adopt year-round Daylight Saving Time.

To do so, first, I’ll discuss how the current system and Standard Time is killing you.

Second, I’ll discuss how Standard Time is stealing your car.

And third, I’ll discuss how Standard Time is stealing your wallet.

Saving Lives

So, first: Standard Time is killing you.

Whether you switch your clocks forward or backward, there’s a major disruption in the national sleep cycle that occurs as a result. This disruption, every time we switch our clocks, causes an increase in car accidents, regardless of time frame. 

But this goes beyond simple fender benders. Specifically in the switch to Standard Time, when your evening commute goes dark, Americans suffer a 300% increase in fatal vehicle-pedestrian accidents.

This is because, throughout the year, there are consistently more travelers on the road during the nighttime rush hour, as citizens are running errands, socializing, going to night school, or doing anything other than simply commuting.

All of these extra travelers, however, means that, across the board, accidents generally double at night compared to the morning.

Knowing these two facts—that accidents double during the evening commute, and increase greatly when that commute is darkened by Standard Time—if we were, year-round, to shift the extra hour of daylight afforded by Daylight Saving Time toward the evening, we can save up to 350 American lives annually.

And that’s not all regarding health—permanent Daylight Saving would save lives through healthy living as well.

A study of 23,000 children from nine countries, found a definitive increase in their exercise on days with later sunsets, even when controlled for weather or time in school.

As for adults, DST yields an additional 3 percent of citizens engaged in outdoor recreation, who otherwise would have stayed indoors for the same period.

Like with car accidents, the initial act of switching the clocks has major detrimental health effects, no matter which direction the clock moves.

On just the Monday following the switch to DST, the disruption to your sleep cycle increases your risk of heart attack by 25%, your risk of stroke by 8% if you’re healthy, and by 20% if you’re over 65.

Annually, workplace accidents spike in frequency and severity on that Monday, and in the weeks following the start of Daylight Saving Time, suicide rates rise.

Researchers believe this suggests that despite increased sunlight and the science behind Vitamin D’s role in emotional health, “small changes in chronobiological rhythms are potentially destabilizing in vulnerable individuals.”

That is to say, that even small changes to sleep patterns can throw people for a loop. And we’ve needlessly built such changes into the system.

And unfortunately, things doesn’t get any better in the fall.

When clocks are set back to Standard Time, and everyone gains an hour of sleep, the shift is actually followed by an 11% increase in the number of depression diagnoses, not decrease—an increase that lasts an astonishing 20 weeks before leveling off.

So, year-round Daylight Saving Time can save lives.

Reducing Crime

Second, Standard Time is stealing your car.

There’s a reason Batman works at night—crime thrives in darkness. And adding an additional hour of evening daylight can reduce crime across the board.

Researchers have found that in the spring, at the start of Daylight Saving Time, robbery rates fall 27% during the extra sunlit evening hour, and 7% across the entire day.

Robbery, assault, car theft, and other types of common crime usually peak between 5 and 8 p.m.—when the sun is setting and potential victims are less able to identify attackers.

However, despite the time of year, these crimes remain consistently low during morning hours.

Steve Calandriollo, law professor at the University of Washington, summarizes that a permanent switch to Daylight Saving Time would “remove an hour from the criminal workday,” and serve to reduce crime and its costly ripple effects.

Crimes carry a cost beyond just their initial tear in the societal fabric, from direct costs like medical fees and legal services, to indirect costs like pain and suffering.

Research from the Brookings Institution and Cornell University finds that, using an estimated social cost of $42,000 per robbery, and $240,000 per rape, a three-week extension of Daylight Saving Time in 2007 saved the U.S. $246 million.

If Daylight Saving were to be extended year-round, this would yield at least four billion dollars in “social savings” every year.

Year-round Daylight Saving Time keeps your car where you left it.

Economic Effects of DST

Finally, Standard Time is stealing your wallet.

Reducing the cost of crime isn’t the only monetary benefit to Daylight Saving Time—adding an hour of daylight every evening both saves energy and boosts the economy.

Looking at both residential and commercial energy use, the U.S. Department of Energy found a four-week extension could save 0.5% of electricity per day, for the entire country.

That’s enough energy to power 100,000 households for an entire year.

And the current system is costing us—On the Monday after “springing forward,” America’s lost hour of sleep costs us $434 million annually.

This is because, for every hour of sleep lost, researchers find a 20% decrease in productivity.

In America’s case, this accumulates a deficit we don’t recover with the extra hour of sleep in the fall. Do you think you’re suddenly 20% more productive with that extra hour?

And how do you like this? Utah State University Economist William F. Shughart II found that the simple physical action of every American changing their clocks twice a year, can cost the country $1.7 billion annually in opportunity cost—

$1.7 billion!

—for a collective ten minutes that could be spent more productively elsewhere.

With that money, you could buy 25 NBA franchises, or even personally finance the rest of the planned Star Wars movies—and still have half your fortune leftover.

It’s not just about savings though, as year-round Daylight Saving Time can provide a sales boost to certain industries as well.

In lobbying Congress to extend Daylight Saving Time, the grilling and charcoal industries cite an extra $200 million in sales from just an extra month of Daylight Saving Time.

The golf industry? Says that DST provides them an additional $400 million per month.

And convenience stores, where Americans buy 80% of their gas, say DST yields an additional $1 billion in sales for the extra month.

Between opportunity costs, industry boosts, the cost of crime, shifting to year-round Daylight Saving could free up roughly $7.73 billion.

So, depending on your preference, with this extra money in the economy, you could send almost two-Verizon Center’s-worth of people to space, via flights from Virgin Galactic, or buy every remaining NBA team from your opportunity cost money, except the Knicks or Lakers.

But really, the way they’re playing these days, you might be saving yourself a headache.

Daylight Saving Time keeps your wallet in your pocket—and fills it.

Closing

In conclusion, it’s time for Congress to stop the practice of switching the clocks, simply in the name of tradition.

Maintaining Daylight Saving Time year-round can save American lives, health, money, time, and anguish.

I recommend the members of this committee take into serious consideration the ample benefits to such a simple change. Not only are we stuck in a bad system, we’re hurting ourselves by needlessly bending over backwards to accommodate it.

And students, I recommend you phone your representatives, some of whom may even be in this room. Let them know you advocate for year-round Daylight Savings Time.

Your physical and financial well-beings depend on it.

Thank you.

Works Cited

American Academy of Neurology. (2016, February 29). Does Daylight Saving Time Increase Risk of Stroke? Retrieved from American Academy of Neurology.

CBS New York. (2014, March 9). Daylight Saving Time Means More Traffic Accidents. CBS New York.

Coren, S. (1996). Daylight Saving Time and Traffic Accidents. The New England Journal of Medicine, 924-925.

David T. Wagner, C. M. (2014, March 6). The Economic Toll of Daylight Saving Time. The New York Times.

Golden, H. (2016, November 4). The science of why daylight saving time is bad for you. The Week.

Harris, S. (2014, March 6). Daylight Saving Time Takes a Toll on Health. The New York Times.

Matthew J. Kotchen, L. E. (2011). Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Indiana. National Bureau of Economic Research. MIT Press.

Michael Berk, S. D. (2008). Small shifts in diurnal rhythms are associated with an increase in suicide: The effect of daylight saving. Sleep and Biology Rhythms.

Pierson, R. (2014, March 29). Daylight saving time linked to heart attacks: study. Reuters.

Rumore, K. (2016, November 5). Daylight Saving Time: 9 things to know. Chicago Tribune.

Schiavenza, M. (2015, March 8). Time to Kill Daylight Saving. The Atlantic.

Stromberg, J. (2015, March 6). It's time to make daylight saving time year-round. Vox.

Gerard, D. (2014, March 6). The Spring Time Change Saves Lives. The New York Times.

Calandrillo, S. (2014, March 6). Keep Daylight Saving Time Year-Round. The New York Times.

Mechanics

Speaker: Kent B. Rochford, Acting Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Date:  Tuesday, May 9

Event: Special Meeting of the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce at Georgetown University.

Event Start Time: 5:20 p.m. ET

·        5:20-5:25: Roll Call

·        5:25-5:45: Review of Previous Minutes

·        5:45-6:00: Review of Agenda

Speech Start Time: 6:00 p.m. ET

Location: Georgetown University, School of Continuing Studies; 640 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001

Room: C227

Building Directions:  Proceed through front double doors to the reception desk. After checking in, take the elevator in front of you to the bottom floor. The classroom will be the farthest room in the right corner when you exit the elevator, across an atrium of neon furniture.

Nearest Metro: Gallery Place-Chinatown, on the Yellow/Green lines.

Duration: 20 minutes for speech, 10 allotted for Q&A.

Audience: United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and roughly 20 Georgetown graduate students, aged 21-31, studying public relations/corporate communications. Representatives and students will be seated in cramped desks.

Acknowledgements: Professor Mike Long, Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Vice Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ)

Technology: Laptop and projector system provided. Internet-connected. No microphone.

Speech Delivered From: Small standing desk at the front of the classroom, high chair optional.

Content

Topic & 3 Subtopics: Implement year-round Daylight Saving Time (DST).

• DST saves lives.

• DST prevents crime.

• DST boosts the economy.

Takeaway: Create frustration as to the obvious benefits and unpursued easy change of year-round daylight saving time.

Three Main Ideas:

• Year-round DST saves lives by reducing fatal vehicle accidents, and promoting health.

• Year-round DST reduces crime and its resulting millions in social costs.

• Year-round DST boosts economic activity through increased outdoor industries, negating opportunity cost and energy use.