22 October 1994: If we can’t be in step with Europe, we could at least be in time with it
Related: Hello darkness, my old friend
At midnight tomorrow we will all have to put our clocks back one hour, so cutting short the amount of daylight available to enjoy during the evenings. It doesn’t have to be so. Inflicting an extra hour of darkness on the evening is a peculiarly British act of masochism which flies in the face of the facts. Research by the Policy Studies Institute has shown that if Britain switched to Central European Time – giving us an extra hour of daylight in the evenings at the expense of losing an hour in the morning – not only would road accidents be reduced (including 140 fewer deaths), energy saved, crime cut and tourism boosted – but everyone, particularly children, would have the pleasure and the safety which lighter evenings would bring. The results of a governmental Green Paper were expected as long ago as 1989, but still haven’t arrived. It is not that anyone has disproved the PSI research, because every time they update it they find that the benefits are even greater than they originally thought; and practically every organisation in England and Wales, from the CBI to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, backs it to the hilt. A survey by NOP this week found that 75 per cent of people are in favour of a switch to Continental time – particularly in the 25 to 34 age group.
Continue reading…22 October 1994: If we can’t be in step with Europe, we could at least be in time with it Related: Hello darkness, my old friend At midnight tomorrow we will all have to put our clocks back one hour, so cutting short the amount of daylight available to enjoy during the evenings. It doesn’t have to be so. Inflicting an extra hour of darkness on the evening is a peculiarly British act of masochism which flies in the face of the facts. Research by the Policy Studies Institute has shown that if Britain switched to Central European Time – giving us an extra hour of daylight in the evenings at the expense of losing an hour in the morning – not only would road accidents be reduced (including 140 fewer deaths), energy saved, crime cut and tourism boosted – but everyone, particularly children, would have the pleasure and the safety which lighter evenings would bring. The results of a governmental Green Paper were expected as long ago as 1989, but still haven’t arrived. It is not that anyone has disproved the PSI research, because every time they update it they find that the benefits are even greater than they originally thought; and practically every organisation in England and Wales, from the CBI to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, backs it to the hilt. A survey by NOP this week found that 75 per cent of people are in favour of a switch to Continental time – particularly in the 25 to 34 age group. Continue reading…