Time for daylight savings time to go away?

March 24, 2016, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Most of Canada sprang forward a couple of weekends ago and the debate on why we are still doing it raged on in the media, in schools and at workplaces. The practice represents a relic of a bygone time and has no place in today’s world.

There are many dubious tales about why it was established:

• To help farmers – neither they nor the livestock and crops don’t care if it’s light in the morning or afternoon. The work still needs doing.
• To save candle wax – again, whether it’s dark at 7 AM or 4 PM the wax would have been used.
• To conserve fuel and coal – again how?
• To make it nicer for people to go shopping after work – this may have had some validity at one point in time but not anymore.

The negative health effects of moving the clocks are many and well documented. Springing forward is stressful.

• We become sleep deprived.
• Occurrence of stroke and heart attack spikes 25% on the Monday after the clocks move forward.
• Car accidents spike by 17% on the days after we move clocks forward.
• Fatalities due to car accidents increase 5-7% on the three days following the leap forward.
• Falling backward increases pedestrian fatalities.
• Productivity decreases and workplace accidents increase.

To battle these risks when we spring forward make sure you never drive when you are overtired. Stay alert behind the wheel. Eliminate distractions to your driving in the car for the first day or three of the time change period. Make sure you are aware of your surroundings and be focussed on your fellow drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

Ultimately the time change means that we all lose an hour of quality sleep.  For some people, especially for children this can be very difficult. To battle the problems you can try:

• Phasing in the change over the week before the change occurs. Try going to bed 10 minutes earlier and getting up 10 minutes earlier each day.
• Eat well
• Don’t nap
• Avoid caffeine

Of course we could just eliminate it like many parts of n=North America, or the world for that matter.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

The opinions expressed here, while intended to provide useful information, should not be interpreted as legal recommendations or advice.