State commission debates permanent time zone shift
Businesses would make more money, crime rates would drop and more energy would be saved — but kids would be walking to school in the dark if the state permanently shifted to Atlantic Standard Time, a commission studying the move was told.
The change would mean Massachusetts would not set clocks back an hour in the fall and, if no other states joined in, the state would be an hour ahead of the rest of the Eastern time zone for about four months per year. Sunnier evenings would mean darker mornings in the winter, prompting state Rep. Paul Frost to fear for the safety of schoolchildren.
“We need to make sure we are not putting kids in danger,” Frost said after the special legislative commission’s hearing yesterday at the State House. “If the sun rises at 7:15 a.m. in the winter, under this proposal it would be 8:15.”
Frost said a 1970s study that experimented with eliminating the “fall back” for a year showed an uptick in children being injured while walking to school, though the findings did not conclusively tie the increase to the time change.
Multiple commission members raised concerns of the possibility of the state acting alone. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine have filed proposals that could open the door for changes there as well. Frost said it doesn’t make sense for Massachusetts to be different than the rest of the region, citing the defending Super Bowl champions as part of the reason why.
“Networks aren’t just going to give Massachusetts its own time zone for TV, they are still going to show (Patriots’ games) at their prime time,” the Auburn Republican said. “So those games that get over a 11:30 at night are now going to be over at 12:30 in the morning. That’s going to be a lot of tired people in the morning.”
The move would allow more daylight hours to shop and delay turning on lights. Robberies also dropped by 7 percent overall, and 27 percent during evening hours when daylight savings time was extended in 2007. A final recommendation is not expected until July.