Set Your Clocks Ahead for Daylight Saving Time

Just a friendly reminder from your friends at Patch to spring forward and set those clocks ahead one hour before you hit the sack Saturday night.

Daylight saving time (DST) begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 13, and means longer spring and summer days through November.

Ever wonder the history behind getting that extra hour? Benjamin Franklin is credited with the concept, and DST has been used in the United States, Canada and many parts of Europe since World War I. In 2007, President Bush enacted a new energy policy bill that extended DST by four weeks. Prior to this, DST began the first Sunday of April.

The real father of Daylight Savings Time, however, was an Englishman, William Willett (1857-1915), a house builder who spent the last eight years of his life petitioning for the adoption of DST by the British Parliament, and did so at his own expense. 

Willett produced a pamphlet, The Waste of Daylight.  In it he proposed that the clocks should be advanced by 80 minutes in the summer. The evenings would then remain light longer, increasing daylight recreation time and also saving ₤2.5 million in lighting costs. He suggested clocks be advanced by 20 minutes at a time at 2 a.m. on successive Sundays in April and be turned back by the same amount on Sundays in September.

Robert Pearce, a member of Parliament, introduced the measure in a select committee of the legislature. A young Winston Churchill heartily endorsed the proposal. Several times, the bill came to a vote, and each time it met with defeat. Willett died in 1915 of influenza, never living to see his longed-for idea come to fruition.  

Ironically, events elsewhere in Europe prompted its eventual adoption. In the summer of 1914, World War I broke out. Germany and its allies were the first European nations to adopt Willet's proposal. The measure went into effect on April 30, 1916, stemming from the need to conserve coal during wartime. Great Britain, Russia and several neutral European countries came on board in 1917. The United States formally adopted the law in 1918, athough some states and territories have exempted themselves from following daylight saving time.

According to Rasmussen Reports, the majority of Americans simply don't think moving the clock forward or back is worth the hassle. Results of a survey showed that 47 percent think it's not worthwhile, while 40 percent disagree. The remaining 13 percent aren't sure.

Despite the long-running tradition that began in 1918, 27 percent of people have said they have been late or early to an event, thanks to the changing of the clocks. In a related survey, more women than men were aggravated having to change the time.

So there you have it. A public service annoucement and a history lesson. Enjoy your extra hour of sunlight!

Editor's note: Parts of this article were taken from a previous story written by our Santa Cruz, Calif., Patch.