Daylight Saving Time, Spring Forward
Last updated 3/13/2018 at 4:17pm
Spring forward!Don't forget to move your clocks ahead Sunday March 11!
Daylight saving time begins Sunday March 11 at 2 a.m., and yes, we are losing an hour of sleep. However, the4 bright side is the hour of sunlight at the end of the day.
Do not forget to set clocks, or other devices ahead one hour.
Daylight saving time is celebrating it's 100th birthday this year. It was first enacted by the federal government as a way to save coal during World War I in the spring of 1918, and was only meant to exist during wartime. The practice was technically ended later that same year, but many regions continued to follow it, until eventually the government put the measure back in place in 1966.
The next major change came in 2007, when the Department of Transportation (DOT), which is surprisingly in charge of the practice, expanded daylight saving time to encompass about 65% of the year.
The DOT was assigned the responsibility because the switch affects so many modes of transportation. The agency continues to observe the twice-yearly time swap because it reportedly saves energy, cuts down on traffic accidents and reduces crime.
States have the final say on if they participate, though. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not - the latter because it receives so much sunlight already. The islands of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands abstain as well.