Fall Back

I decided to use ten minutes of my extra hour to post a few facts about turning back the clocks.

+As Will informed us back in March, it's Daylight Saving time, not Daylight Savings.

+The idea of Daylight Saving Time can be traced back to a tongue-in-cheek letter Ben Franklin wrote to The Journal of Paris in 1784.

+The first country to actually implement DST was Germany, during World War I. The U.S. followed suit in 1918, recognizing DST and establishing the four time zones, which had been used by the railroad industry since 1883.

+After the 1973 energy crisis, the U.S. went on extended Daylight Saving Time for 1974-75. A Department of Transportation study found that observing DST in March and April saved 10,000 barrels of oil a day, prevented 2,000 traffic injuries and saved $28 million in traffic costs. In 1976, the U.S. returned to the previously observed schedule, after public opposition to late winter sunrises.

+In 2007, the DST period will start earlier (March 11) and end later (November 4). This is part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and this is only a test. Based on results, Congress can choose to revert to the previous schedule, which was set in 1986.