As I awoke, it began like any other ordinary day.  I got up, got dressed, and that’s when I heard my mom scream, “Get up!! You’re going to be late!” At that moment, I realized it was day-light savings.  Instead of waking up at seven, like I was supposed to, I woke up at eight.  I raced to get myself ready and zoomed out the door.  In the end, I got lucky and remembered that it was a late start day, so I was saved by the bell. 

Has this ever happened to you? If so, I am going to tell you what day-light savings is, how it came about, why I think day-light savings should no longer be observed, and what might be a solution to the problem. You don’t want to be late because of a seemingly random and artificial time change. It is time to eliminate day-light savings and find a new solution.

Daylight savings started in 1895 when a New Zealand entomologist named George Hudson came up with the concept of turning the clock forward one hour one day in the spring and turning the clock backward one hour one day in the fall.  People call it spring forward and fall back.   He did this to give himself more time to go bug hunting in the summer.  The United States officially adopted daylight savings to conserve coal during World War I.  I would argue, however, that we no longer need it today, and it actually causes more harm than good.  Therefore, daylight savings should be eliminated.

There are three main reasons why daylight savings should be eliminated, and the first is spring forward can increase the chances of car accidents and make it more dangerous to drive.  Studies have shown that during spring forward, people are more tired from losing an hour of sleep, and aren’t as alert about what is on the road.  Sleepy drivers make driving less safe for everyone and can cause more traffic jams. No one wants to be stuck in traffic and/or caught in a car crash.

Second, daylight savings is bad for your health..  Eight medical studies have shown that spring forward increases your risk of having a heart attack.  This is linked to lack of sleep from losing one hour. Also, losing sleep is a depression trigger.  Most of this happens within the first three weekdays of daylight savings.  This may not sound like a long time, but do you want any increased risk of a heart attack?  Also depression can lead to mental illnesses and bipolar disease. In addition, daylight savings has been linked to increased miscarriages.

Third, daylight savings can increase crime chances for a few reasons.  Fall back makes evening go dark faster leading to more cover during the night when more crimes happen.  This also makes it hard for police to spot the criminals.  Also, people who are not used to the time change and may be less aware of what's going on and more likely to become crime targets.  Multiple studies have shown that these are the main reasons that crime chances increase during daylight savings. 

For these reasons, I propose eliminating daylight savings.  Although it will take getting used to, it would lower risks of car accidents, mental problems, heart attacks, miscarriages, and crime.  By doing this, many lives can be saved.  Although some people may say that daylight savings lowers energy consumption and helps the Earth, studies have shown this is false.  Also, if people say that crime is decreased during spring forward, you still have increased crime during fall back.  Overall, daylight savings is not worth the trouble and we should just eliminate it.

Now that you have heard the reasoning, I hope you are with me on eliminating daylight savings.  Daylight savings all started with one entomologist and led to many risks and injuries, but the problem can be solved by eliminating daylight savings entirely.  By doing this, many places will be safer and most importantly you will be safer.  As writer Robertson Davies said, “I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me nothing of that kind.”