AP English Language and Composition-Timed Writting - Essay Example

Daylight Savings Time (DST) Daylight Saving Time or DST has been in used since 1918 and been enacted into law in 2005 through the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Source A). Today, we observe DST beginning on every second Sunday of March until the first Sunday in November of each year. This practice of moving our time earlier was an idea that came from Benjamin Franklin when he wrote a letter to a French journal “suggesting that Parisians could economize on candles if they simply woke up earlier during the summer” (Source B-introduction).

From this simple letter came the DST policy whose implementation was intended to save power usage and practiced by countries such as United States, Britain, France, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand and other countries (Source C). Its expanded use however believed to have other benefits in other areas such as traffic safety and crime reduction (Source A)According to a study made by U.S. Department of Transportation in the 1970s, DST reduces America’s electricity usage “by about one percent” daily when the DST is in effect for an eight month period (Source C).

This result is replicated in other countries that also practice DST. It was also observed by the same study that crime rate was reduced by as much as 10 to 13 percent when DST was in effect attributing to the fact that the extended daylight decreases the opportunity for crimes against those people who are returning from work (Source C). Study also showed that traffic accidents were reduced when DST is in effect (Source C). Daily Savings Time policy intent of saving electricity consumption however is not without its share of detractors.

There are also several sectors that opposed its implementation among them was the airline industry who believed that the extension of DST from a uniform six months to eight months would cause problems in airline’s schedules that would incur them millions of dollars in losses. The perceived benefit of saving electricty consumption through the implementation of DST was also challenged by another study that reported that contrary to the policy’s intent, DST in fact increases the use of electricy consumption for about one percent and there are even instances during fall that the increase rose between 2 and 4 percent (Source –Kotchen).

The expanded benefit of DST of crime reduction and traffic safety was also attempted to be offset by the study that reported that DST can cause sleep disruptions and possibly other serious consequences (Source E). These findings however are not that conclusive compared to the established benefit of DST where other countries have also benefited. The respondents of the study that challenged the benefit of DST were only confined in Indiana while the benefits of DST in terms of reducing electricity consumption is already established not only in the United States but also in other countries.

Its expanded benefits of reducing crime rate and traffic accidents cannot also be disputed while the sleep disruption that can be caused by DST is not yet established and can easily be remedied. In addition, the speculated sleep disruption is not life threatening compared to the safety benefits of DST that reduces traffic accidents and crimes which save lives. Despite the opposition of its detractors, DST should still be continued because its benefits far outweighs its putative disadvantages.