This Sunday, we’ll spring our clocks forward giving ourselves some extra daylight.
What if you could make that change permanent?
One Connecticut lawmaker is proposing to do just that. The bill being considered would move Connecticut one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time to Atlantic Standard Time. That means no more falling back in November. Instead, we would "spring forward forever.”
“Basically, when we move the clocks forward on Sunday the goal is to never move them back,” said Rep. Kurt Vail, (R) Stafford.
Vail is a longtime proponent of “locking the clock,” making daylight-saving time permanent.
“I don’t think people took it serious in the beginning,” said Vail.
Four years later, he says the idea is gaining steam.
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“I think it’s an issue we should be talking about,” said Rep. Matt Blumenthal, (D) Stamford.
Many commuters in Representative Matt Blumenthal’s district of Stamford would be impacted if New York passes similar legislation, which Vail said it's considering.
“They would be faced with a lot of inconvenience and complication in their lives,” said Blumenthal, who sits on the Government Administration and Elections Committee considering Vail’s bill.
Vail said there are economic and health benefits to keeping the clock consistent, pointing to several studies that show car crashes and heart attacks increase around the two times of the year we adjust our clocks.
“In the winter, getting dark at 4:15, 4:30 in the afternoon, seasonal effective disorder, that’s a big part of it,” he said.
“I think it would be a phenomenal idea. Why go through all the contortions every year to keep adjusting the clocks? So, I think it would be totally great,” said Kathy Walsh, who we spoke to in downtown Hartford.
“The mornings are brighter and the evenings are brighter. You don’t come home too late at night in the dark. So, I think it’s a good idea,” Patsy Anderson, of Hartford, said.
The concept of falling back and springing forward has been part of the fabric of society for half a century.
“I like the way it is,” said Frank Vania of Hartford.
Sometimes, old habits die hard.
“I like to have it in the fall become dark because the weather is getting colder,” he explained. “It’s kind of like the four seasons. There’s two time-zone seasons.”
Time isn’t exactly ticking to make this a reality in Connecticut. In fact, the bill says our neighboring states (Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island) would also have to adopt the same standard before it would take effect in Connecticut. Vail said all three are considering it.
