When Does Daylight Savings Time End?

Don’t forget the second-half of the “spring forward, fall back” maxim this weekend.

Daylight Savings Time officially ends at 2 a.m. Sunday. That means it’s time to set clocks back one hour and regain that hour of sleep lost in the spring.

TIME magazine reports that it may be time to end the biannual changing of the clocks, citing research that suggests keeping an hour of sunlight in the evening would reduce traffic accidents and save more than 170 pedestrian lives a year.

“Darkness kills and sunlight saves lives,” said University of Washington Law Professor Steve Calandrillo, who has studied the effectiveness of different DST policies. “The question is ‘when do you want sunlight?’”

He said that around 5 p.m., “virtually everyone in society is awake,” while there are far more people sleeping at 7 a.m. than at 7 p.m.

The groups that want to adopt year-round Daylight Savings Time face opposition from the National PTA, which argues more daylight is needed in the morning when children are on the way to school.

• Tell Us: What do you think? Should year-round Daylight Savings Time be adopted?

While you’re changing your clocks, electricians with Mr. Sparky say it’s also a good idea to:

• Change batteries in your smoke and other safety alarms.
• Upgrade light bulbs with compact fluorescent or LED bulbs that use 75 percent less energy and last 10 to 25 times longer.
• Reverse the direction of the blades in your ceiling fans (clockwise) so warm air near the ceiling is forced down.
• Inspect your wiring and extension cords on holiday lights and displays you plan to use, and consider upgrading to more energy efficient LED lighting. It’s a good idea to install waterproof grounded outlets outside where you need them, with a switch and auto timer inside.

_____

Photo via Shutterstock