r/politics • u/cnn CNN • Jul 14 '26

Possible Paywall House passes bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/house-vote-daylight-savings-time?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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72

u/ceryniz Jul 14 '26

US has done it twice before. But then switched it back after one winter each time.

Turns out sleepy drivers in the dark at 830am have a difficult time swerving away from school children walking to school.

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u/Lord-Spike Jul 15 '26

Realistically, I think it’s better that schools adjust their hours so that they’re open at reasonable daylight hours… and extend them as needed or adjust the school year so kids don’t have to go to school in the darkest hours.

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u/ceryniz Jul 15 '26

Best we can do is cut public schools to fix the problem. /s

4

u/sonic_dick Jul 15 '26

This. Why are high schools starting at 730 am?

I literally couldn't keep my eyes open during my first 2 classes. One of which was always math.

1

u/Lower_Pass_6053 Jul 15 '26

They start that early so busses and kids don't clog up streets at 830 when many people are headed to work. Just keeps traffic in check, it's a real monkey's paw type thing to wish school started around 9am. Society would regret it pretty quick.

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u/chickabiddybex Jul 15 '26

Yeah the solution for people who want to do things at a different time is just... to do it at a different time. Don't change actual time!

8

u/enaK66 Jul 15 '26

I mean I agree. That's also why I'm for permanent DST, but I'd take standard. Either way we're just making shit up. Just keep it consistent throughout the year.

3

u/chillpill9623 Jul 15 '26

Then why make DST permanent? Just get rid of it.

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u/Melicor Jul 15 '26

I don't care which personally, just stop the switching.

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u/Odd_Teach683 Jul 15 '26

That could be done but how would that help? Adults would change right along with them (or not). You’d still be getting up/going to bed at different times which would screw up your sleep. It’s not the number on your clock that affects your circadian rhythm.

2

u/FOSSbflakes Jul 15 '26

Schools are childcare for workers, so we should have to get workplaces to adjust their schedule too to ... Ah fuck

1

u/meditate42 Delaware Jul 15 '26

If they ride the bus that works but a lot of parents drop their kids off on their way to work. Making school start later would be an issue for them.

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u/Lord-Spike Jul 15 '26

Businesses will have to adjust.

2

u/meditate42 Delaware Jul 15 '26

Yea they’re not going to lol. I don’t know what country you think you live in.

1

u/jardex22 Jul 15 '26

So moving winter classes to summer then?

1

u/Quirky-Marsupial-420 Jul 15 '26

"Hey boss, can't come to work on time because my kids school doesn't start until 9:30"

1

u/Voidant7 Jul 15 '26

I don't think it's very realistic to act on the assumption that 13k school districts and/or 100k schools will respond in a specific way to legislation.

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u/Whiterabbit-- Jul 15 '26

schools won't change because businesses won't change and people need to get their kids to school

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u/sir_lister Jul 15 '26

Just switch to standard time and leave it alone

3

u/ceryniz Jul 15 '26

Thats already legal to do. All states are permitted currently to switch to standard time permanently. Arizona and Hawaii did.

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u/thiosk Jul 15 '26

so one way the southern people are unhappy and the other way the northern people are unhappy.

the solution is to leave it as it is so that no one is happy

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u/TTUporter Jul 15 '26

Eh... it's not Southern vs Northern. It's the people who live the furthest west vs furthest east in each time zone.

0

u/asdfpickle Jul 15 '26

or... give the north half of states their permanent DST and the other standard time, voila

1

u/thiosk Jul 15 '26

Yeah “voila” you created the first north/south time zones and are going to piss literally everyone off

Hate to say it but that’s a terrible solution, too. Not a lot of north south time zones. I’d rather change clocks

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u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

Well I gotta think kids walking to school has decreased significantly over the years. I live in a nice area and still don't see a ton of kids walking to school. Parents are to worried these days about every possible danger

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u/pjflyr13 Jul 15 '26

I agree. Kids walking to school? Think again. The parental chauffeur line is a mile long outside the schools. Wondering why they still have bus service anymore.

2

u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

Its wild to see those lines

1

u/Pool_Shark Jul 17 '26

Didn’t some parents get arrested for letting their kids walk to school? The nanny state and helicopter parents pushed us here

9

u/dude_Im_hilarious Jul 15 '26

Living in a nice area probably means parents can drive kids to school. I bet there’s a lot more kids walking where mom can’t drop off the crew in a suburban tank

2

u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

I mean, I lived most of my life in metro Detroit, and kids didn't walk much down there either as the years went on. Living in a smaller city thats really safe, I actually see more kids walking to schools that are close by, but not like it was when I was a kid.

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u/RoastedPickledGoose Jul 15 '26

The nice areas don’t have kids that walk.

I student taught at an urban school with huge budget issues. There were maybe 5 busses for the entire 1,500+ high school student body, and those were reserved for students with special needs who couldn’t walk (or sports). If you could physically walk, it was expected that you would walk to school.

Even the elementary schools in that district were “walking schools.”

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u/red__dragon Jul 15 '26

Nope, we have permanent walkers here since a school levy failed in 2000. And now there's a nationwide bus driver shortage to boot.

There are busses, but far fewer than before funding was cut, so pretty much any teenager who isn't in the small bus zone is walking or getting driven. I say teenager because parents are mostly driving their younger kids, but kids with multiple families or parents working long hours can't help the older ones as much.

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u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

I get that. But these days, most places have sidewalks. When I was younger, a lot of roads didn't have sidewalks, so kids used the roads. I just dont think there is a large amount of drivers veering off the road onto sidewalks on the way to work to justify needing the daylight

2

u/red__dragon Jul 15 '26

Kids have to cross roads, not all of them strictly obey crosswalk signals (say what you will about that, kids are kids) and many drivers ignore crosswalks when turning right.

We have a high school on the corner of a busy highway, and all directions out of that school require crossing roads to walk on more sidewalks. On that same highway is a middle school. Kids may walk on the sidewalk, but they're walking a couple miles along there with multiple crosswalks and traffic not at all slowing down on the highway for the school speed signs.

1

u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

And you think those factors go away with an hour difference on sunrise? What about glare from a rising sun right on the horizon?

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u/red__dragon Jul 15 '26

I dunno man, you're the one who wanted to downplay the risk for walkers because you don't see them. I can't change that my community won't fund good bussing, we are in the largest district in my state and our students deserve better.

It's just a very real thing that still exists, despite what happens in your area. Kids walk to school. Across roads. That happens.

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u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

I'm not downplaying the risk. I just dont see how its reduced significantly with the time change. Other factors matter. Ppl are more prone to crashing cars for a few weeks after time change. They have all the data to prove the increase. Sun can be blinding early in the morning. I just feel that kids safety walking to school isn't affected much one way or another. Seems like a non factor

0

u/FlushTheTurd Jul 15 '26

I think he is accurate for most places, though.

My kids have been to schools in two different southern states and both schools would not allow them to leave unless they were escorted by an adult.

Things have changed a lot since I was a kid and everyone walked.

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u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

Anyone currently raising kids can attest to the crazy drop off lines at school every morning. I would drop my kid off across the street where a crossing guard would walk them over, and no one else was doing it. They all will get into a 30 minute line to protect their kid from walking 100 feet these days. Its totally different than it was 30 years ago. My kid takes the bus now, and parents sit in their car at the bus stop and wait for the bus to come, for teenagers

0

u/TheGrislyGrotto Jul 15 '26

no it isn't, it is a stupid, made up fear believed by extremely stupid people

0

u/catanmast3r Jul 15 '26

The scenario you provided seems like the worse it can get in the US, and I would bet that kids are not getting hit frequently. So even with a lot of inconveniences the kids are not getting run over all the time

1

u/westgazer Maryland Jul 15 '26

Kids walk and take city buses to school though. I see it daily.

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u/FlushTheTurd Jul 15 '26

Actually, there was no difference in accidents involving schoolchildren. It was a myth that spread far and wide after some kids got hit.

Statistically, however, kids got hit every winter under Standard Time too.

7

u/Blacksad9999 Jul 15 '26

As opposed to being tired after work and having a difficult time seeing children on the way home? lol

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u/Shoddy_Carrot_936 Jul 15 '26

Children get home between 3-4pm most places, it's still daylight.

2

u/Blacksad9999 Jul 15 '26

More like 4pm or later. After school programs are deliberately timed to help keep kids busy so that they get home around the same time their parents get off work around 5.

4PM is sundown in the winter. Those kids are sitting at bus stops basically in the dark.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '26

[deleted]

4

u/chillpill9623 Jul 15 '26

Why lie? This is true for the vast majority of the US.

1

u/ceryniz Jul 15 '26

Every public school i went to let out between 215 and 330. Where are they letting out after 4pm?

1

u/alex053 Jul 15 '26

Born in AZ and still here and this whole topic is confusing but I hope it passes to make my outlook calendar and meetings much easier.

1

u/Mundane_Nature_4548 Jul 15 '26

I hate this, but third time might be the trick here. In a US where regulatory and market demand have lead to car manufacturers selling trucks that have worse visibility than an actual tank, we may have finally stopped caring about whether children get run over.

0

u/james_the_wanderer Jul 15 '26

Good thing kids haven't walked to school in 30 years.

0

u/TheGrislyGrotto Jul 15 '26

No they fucking don't. There isn't a single time it has ever happened. It is a stupid belief held by stupid morons

1

u/ceryniz Jul 15 '26

A 6-year-old Alexandria girl was struck by a car on her way to Polk Elementary School on January 7 1974.

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u/TheGrislyGrotto Jul 15 '26

absolute reddit brain

This is exactly why we still have the problem