Daylight Saving Time is achieved by advancing the clock one hour. Under the Uniform Time Act, which became effective in 1967, all states, the District of Columbia, and US possessions were to observe Daylight Saving Time beginning at 2 AM on the last Sunday in April and ending at 2 AM on the last Sunday in October. Any state could, by law, exempt itself; a 1972 amendment to the act authorized states split by time zones to take that into consideration in exempting themselves. Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and part of Indiana are now exempt. Some local zone boundaries in Kansas, Texas, Florida, Michigan, and Alaska have been modified in the last several years by the Department of Transportation, which oversees the act. To conserve energy, Congress put most of the nation on year-round Daylight Saving Time for two years effective January 6, 1974, through October 26, 1975; but a further bill, signed in October, 1974, restored Standard Time from the last Sunday in that month to the last Sunday in February, 1975. At the end of 1975, Congress failed to renew this temporary legislation and the nation returned to the older end-of-April to end-of-October DST system.
On July 8, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation moving up the start of Daylight Saving Time to the first Sunday in April. Daylight Saving Time, which used to start the last Sunday in April, still ends the last Sunday in October. The Transportation Department estimated that the earlier starting date will help save more than $28 million in traffic accident costs and prevent more than 1,500 injuries and 20 deaths. The new law, opposed by some farm state lawmakers, took effect in 1987.
Daylight Saving Time Worldwide
Adjusting clock time to be able to use the added daylight on summer evenings is common throughout the world.
Western Europe is on Daylight Saving Time generally from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September; however, the United Kingdom continues until the last Sunday in October.
The Soviet Union lies over 11 time zones, but maintains its standard time one hour fast of the zone designation. Additionally, it proclaims Daylight Saving Time as does Europe.
China lies across five time zones, but has decreed that the entire country be placed on zone time minus 8 hours, with Daylight Saving Time from April 12 to September 12.
Many of the countries in the Southern Hemisphere maintain Daylight Saving Time generally from October to March; however, most countries near the equator do not deviate from standard time.
- from The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1988, Pharos Books, New York, New York.
