Daylight Savings Time 2016: When Do You Turn Back The Clocks? Here’s The Answer, Plus An Explanation Of Why The Time Shifts


Daylight Savings Time 2016 is here, and anyone wondering when they need to change back the clocks — or exactly why we do it — can find all the answers right here.

This weekend is the start of Daylight Savings Time for 2016, which begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday. That means the clocks move forward, skipping ahead one hour at the end of 1:59 a.m. and skipping directly to 3 a.m.

For those in the European Union, Summer Time begins and ends at 1 a.m. Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time), and starts a little later. It begins the final Sunday in March and ends the final Sunday in October.

So where does Daylight Savings Time come from? E! News has a bit of history, noting that it dates all the way back to one of America’s Founding Fathers.

“It was all Ben Franklin’s idea.

“The founding father wrote about the subject in a 1784 essay.

“His argument? More daylight would mean people wouldn’t waste candles by having to burn them longer.

“It’s basically the same thing people argued during World War I, when Daylight Saving Time was first introduced, to help the U.S. and other nations use less fuel.”

And why was 2 a.m. chosen? As WebExhibits noted, it was chosen because “it was practical and minimized disruption.”

“Most people were at home and this was the time when the fewest trains were running,” the report noted. “It is late enough to minimally affect bars and restaurants, and it prevents the day from switching to yesterday, which would be confusing. It is early enough that the entire continental U.S. switches by daybreak, and the changeover occurs before most early shift workers and early churchgoers are affected.”

But Daylight Savings Time could be a dying tradition in 2016, with a number of states considering doing away with it entirely. A number of states including Alaska and Rhode Island are considering taking action to place themselves in one time zone, doing away with the clock changes every November and March. Arizona and Hawaii already shun Daylight Savings Time, keeping the clocks the same all year long.

As Vox noted, there could be many positive side effects to eliminating Daylight Savings Time. Moving the clocks forward is bad for health, the report noted, with higher rates of heart attacks, traffic accidents, and workplace injuries just after the beginning of Daylight Savings Time.

There are also advantages for a range of professions, the report noted.

“For some industries, like agriculture, it’s much more preferable to remain in standard time: The sun would rise earlier, giving farmers an extra hour of daylight to work. But that extra hour of morning sunlight benefits us all. For one thing, driving a morning commute when it’s light out probably reduces traffic accidents. And the earlier sunset in the evening might mean less crime, since most street crime, like muggings, happens more often when it’s light out.”

There are some other groups not happy with Daylight Savings Time as well. Television networks aren’t a fan, as ratings traditionally dip after the clocks change.

And anyone with a young child knows that the clock changes are essentially pointless — babies will wake up whenever they wake up, regardless of what time the clock says.

Some states and regions are thinking of outside-the-box solutions to Daylight Savings Time problem. Some lawmakers in New England states have proposed a permanent move to the Atlantic time zone, matching up with the far East Coast of Canada and moving them an hour ahead of Eastern time.

The Boston Globe has advocated for the Daylight Savings Time solution, and it’s got growing support within political circles, though it’s likely still far away from actually happening.

[Picture by Carl Court/Getty Images]

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