Can we please stop using daylight savings?

Why it’s time to end the pointless and dangerous charade of daylight saving time: Menon, March 7

Two times a year, we are subjected to numerous articles in the popular press advising us that changing the clocks by an hour causes numerous additional traffic accidents, and has certain physiological disadvantages. The original reason for introducing daylight savings was to give farmers an additional hour of productivity each day. In the modern world, this hardly seems necessary. The majority of people that I talk to about this agree that it is an unneeded and outdated idea. I understand that the Ontario government is supportive of the idea of dropping the time change but will not do so until Quebec and/or New York does the same. Why on earth do we have to wait for other areas to agree? Lets take the initiative and show some leadership in getting rid of this time waster once and for all.

Maurice Lovelock, Toronto

Perhaps our astute provincial MPPs, MLAs and their premiers can address why on earth all of Canada has not gone to standard time, ditching daylight saving time and keeping in step with both science and 60 per cent of all the world’s countries.

A casual search of international peer-reviewed studies has shown that twice a year when we change our clocks heart attacks increase by 24 per cent. Other health issues, including strokes and depression, as well as workplace and traffic incidents, also increase. The only thing that seems to decrease is office productivity.

W. R. Thuma, Toronto There’s currently an online petition to get rid of daylight saving time and keep standard time all year round. That would be a mistake. If we don’t want the clocks to change, let’s stop the changing of the clocks, but let’s do it right and keep Daylight Saving Time all year round.

If the pro-standard time petition is adopted, it’ll be dark by 8 p.m. every night in the summer. We want more sunshine, not less sunshine. Keep the Daylight Saving Time all year around, and stop the useless standard time clock change.

Max Moore, Toronto

When Premier Doug Ford was elected, he promised to end the time change. What happened? Why are we yet again being subjected to this dangerous and unnecessary foolishness? Does he really want more heart attacks and car accidents when our hospitals are overcrowded and understaffed?

Kate Chung, Toronto