Daylight saving time

[Nick C]

Fascinating responses (emphasis added).

 

So you would say the answer is not, then, to have a fresh trial, in modern circumstances, to see if we can actually save lives by the simple expedient of altering the clocks? No, the correct answer is to stick our heads in the sand and say very loudly that "the evidence is flawed, let's change nothing, la-la-la"?

 

Not sure I can go with you on that approach. Even if Wikipedia states that you're right...

 

Paul

 

I didn't say "don't try the experiment again" - I said "Don't rely on the existing results" - it's typical politics to take the one bit of data that supports your argument and ignore the rest! I do agree that a fresh experiment would be interesting, though as another post states, it's pretty difficult to get a 'clean' experiment. Possibly a better approach would be to compare data from the week prior to the change with the week after (though that wouldn't work this year as the week before was half-term, and you need both weeks to be school weeks to get an even comparison).

 

I'd also like to see some reliable figures for what time of day the highest number of accidents occur - I've just been trying to find some, and found one set that says 8-9am on a Tuesday, and another that says 5-6pm on a Friday - the one thing they all agree on is that the rush hours (at both ends of the day) are far more dangerous than any other time of day, so the best way to reduce road deaths would be to reduce the traffic volumes during rush hour (e.g. more flexible working) - then you could look at the clocks from a convenience perspective rather than a safety one.

 

Personally I think everybody is looking at this in completely the wrong way. Rather than wasting time playing with clocks it should be possible to shift the earth's axis of rotation to Place Britain on the equator, thus avoiding the problem of having short days. Obviously there would be some risk but we could do a risk assessment. I see no reason not to press on.

 

Well, they keep telling us we're leaving Europe, so we should just move the whole archipelago closer to the equator - we'd get warmer weather then too!

 

At risk of being political, I do think it's a little unfair that the Scots are expected to suck it up when a measure is beneficial to Southern England but rather detrimental to them. Seems to have been a perennial issue since James I's time.

 

This is why I don't understand the whole thing with the EU time zones at the moment - it's bad enough having the same rules for Northern Scotland and Southern England, but having the same for Northern Norway and Southern Spain is even worse!

[Nick C]

I wonder if there is any medical evidence to link an increase in Seasonal Affective Disorder to the autumn clock change?

Fortunately I do not suffer from SAD, but anecdotally many people I know do not look forward to the change each year.

 

Funnily enough, anecdotally the two people I know who suffer from SAD both like the change - they both prefer lighter mornings (easier to wake up) to lighter evenings.

[hayfield]

I didn't say "don't try the experiment again" - I said "Don't rely on the existing results" - it's typical politics to take the one bit of data that supports your argument and ignore the rest! I do agree that a fresh experiment would be interesting, though as another post states, it's pretty difficult to get a 'clean' experiment. Possibly a better approach would be to compare data from the week prior to the change with the week after (though that wouldn't work this year as the week before was half-term, and you need both weeks to be school weeks to get an even comparison).

 

 

 

Any decision should be firstly based on factual information, then deemed as a sufficient benefit to the majority of the population before any action is taken

 

I must admit that I prefered the period of the test even though we had to wait till 1 pm GMT for midday. Certainly the benefits of the trial far outweighed the negatives (if there were any). Sadly the whole thing fell apart due to the actions of a few at Westminster with what seems ulterior motives rather than the benefit to the country