Stop the clock and ban Standard Time

I know, every year I write about Daylight Saving and the chaos of clock changing. And every year I cringe as we get closer to losing an hour of sleep. Given the few hours that I allot for sleeping as a percentage, this is a huge loss. Since the federal government is in charge of time zones and standard time, the only option for states is to 'opt-out' of DST. That means Arizona and Hawaii, who opted out, are embracing Standard Time only. Of course, given the climate in these states, the 4:30pm sunset in bitter cold and icy conditions that we experience in New Jersey isn't exactly a factor. It's legal for states to opt-out of DST, but not Standard Time. In Florida, the legislature is challenging that notion as they recently passed by an overwhelming margin to move the state to DST ONLY. They call it the "Sunshine Preservation Act". I love it. The Governor has yet to sign it because it is potentially a conflict with the federal laws on Standard Time. But someone has to lead the fight. May as well be the Sunshine State. Why should we have to get rid of longer days? How about the Feds change the standard time and adopt DST only? It can be done. President Bush signed an energy bill that moved the dates around to extend DST. Let's see if President Trump will push Congress to Act. Here's my solution. Make the time change on the same day. Problem solved. If we move back and forward on the same day, they cancel out and it's over.

In the meantime, I'd like to see New Jersey join the ranks of states considering similar legislation and push back against the ridiculous and outdated tradition of moving the clocks. We've suffered enough with higher rates of heart attacks and traffic accidents. We know that it really doesn't save energy, so what on earth are we waiting for? Stop the madness. Pick a time, and stick to it. I'm OK with the legal opt-out for DST, but I think you'd get many more people on board if we opt-out of Standard Time and stick with the long summer days and sunsets around 9pm. Either way, there are eight months to go before we "fall into" the same problem.

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea.

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