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43 Wake Forest L. Rev. 45 (2008)
Time Well Spent: An Economic Analysis of Daylight Saving Time Legislation

handle is hein.journals/wflr43 and id is 51 raw text is: ARTICLES TIME WELL SPENT: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME LEGISLATION Steve P. Calandrillo* Dustin E. Buehler** Several nations implemented daylight saving time legislation in the last century, including the United States. The United States briefly experimented with year-round daylight saving time twice--during World War II and the energy crises in the 1970s. Agency studies and congressional hearings from the 1970s show several benefits of year-round daylight saving time, along with potential disadvantages. These studies are dated, and much has changed in the last thirty years. While congressional efforts to extend daylight saving time in 2007 have again focused on the energy savings this legislation would produce, far more meaningful benefits have been largely ignored. This Article collects and analyzes modern research on daylight saving time, concluding that year-round daylight saving time would save hundreds of lives annually by decreasing motor vehicle and pedestrian fatalities. Furthermore, extra light in the evening hours reduces criminal activity and results in energy savings from decreased peak electricity demand. Finally, year-round daylight saving time would eliminate the negative effects caused by the current spring and fall time changes. These advantages significantly outweigh the potential costs of daylight saving during winter months. The time has come for Congress to enact year-round * Professor of Law and Washington Law Foundation Scholar, Univ. of Washington School of Law, stevecal@u.washington.edu. J.D., Harvard Law School; B.A., Univ. of California at Berkeley. ** Law Clerk to Judge Alfred Goodwin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, dbuehler@myuw.net. J.D., Univ. of Washington School of Law; B.A., Willamette Univ. The authors wish to thank U.S. Congressmen Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.) for bringing this topic to the forefront of Congress's attention. Our gratitude as well to Ninth Circuit Judge Alfred Goodwin, Chryssa Deliganis, Mary Lynn Veden, Jonathan Moskow, Irwin Yoon, and Alyse Merritt for their encouragement and thoughts on prior drafts, as well as to the Washington Law School Foundation for its generous financial support.

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