No time for British clock changes
Daylight-saving measure fails to gain enough support.
A plan to bring Britain's clocks into line with those in the rest of Europe has failed to gather the necessary political support. The potential change, championed by supporters as a way to save lives and energy, will now be dropped.
The measure would have given Britain an extra hour of evening daylight in both winter and summer, by advancing the clocks an hour ahead of their current times while continuing to observe 'daylight saving time' (DST) by moving them forward in spring and back in autumn.
Read the full story here.
Comments
"...the move could have saved around 100 lives a year through reducing evening traffic accidents, and around £485 million in energy costs", plus, as a consequence, the greenhouse gasses produced.
I have followed this and thought the debate to be less clear on the benefits, so it is good to find clear safety, scientific, economic and environmental bases in support of it.
Hence the obvious question: why did it fail as, if ever there was a... rare... no brainer, this would seem to be it?
Perhaps it would the social unpopularity of the move in more Northern counties and indeed countries, whose representation in Parliament is at a remarkably high %age?
Posted by: Peter Martin | January 30, 2007 06:23 AM
I'm always surprised how talks surrounding Daylight-saving time never take
into account the effects on productivity of having to get up in the dark.
For example, most office workers in Montreal (Canada) spend the last two
weeks of October without any sunshine before they start working. Which has
been shown to be detrimental to moral and doesn't make for very productive
days. People here feel much more tired during that time of year, which, by
the way, makes them more prone to traffic accidents.
Daylight-saving measures might be good in regions somewhat closer to the
equator, but in northern parts, I doubt that it is such a good idea.
Marc Andre Belanger
http://ideas.mab.ms
Posted by: marc andre belanger | February 1, 2007 10:23 AM