Could Massachusetts lead all of New England to change time zones?

[TexasTowelie]

Synchronize your watches: A Massachusetts commission on Wednesday will vote on whether to recommend a switch from Eastern time to Atlantic time, potentially prompting the Massachusetts state Legislature and the rest of the region to follow suit.

Such a move — which would give the contiguous U.S. five time zones instead of four — has been widely debated across New England, which juts hundreds of miles farther east than the rest of the states in the Eastern time zone.

Night falls earlier there, leaving less time for kids to play outside after school and fewer shoppers willing to go to stores after work when it’s dark.

That also makes the coming shift from daylight saving time on Nov. 5 more burdensome for New Englanders as they set their clocks another hour back. Lawmakers in Massachusetts and across the region have been looking for a solution.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-time-change-20171031-story.html

[sheshe2]

1. Interesting...thanks TT.

MA here.

[TexasTowelie]

4. You're welcome.

I can see this being a mixed bag. For the children and workers I can see an advantage of having more daylight hours in the evening, but for the workers that have to deal with people across the country it could also mean that they have to spend one more hour each day. If the end of the work day in LA, San Francisco or Seattle is 5 p.m. that could mean that the Atlantic zone workers might have to stay until 9 p.m.

The issue of being out of sync with the rest of the country is also valid. It will require all of the New England states to adopt the Atlantic time zone in order for it to possibly succeed. It also wouldn't hurt if New York and New Jersey join in.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Here's the essential problem.

The sun does not rise and set at the same times all year. I know, a bit hard to believe.

If Massachusetts decides to go on Atlantic time it will put them out of sync with the rest of the country.

I live in the Mountain time zone, so I don't really give a flying fuck what Massachusetts does, but were I to live on the east coast I'd probably care. What's more important? The sun staying up later in the winter, or being on the same time zone as the rest of the East Coast?

[Cobalt Violet]

6. I live in MA and want this.

We shouldn't be on the same time as the rest of the east coast.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Why not? What would you gain by being an hour earlier?

[Kolesar]

3. Remember the sportscasters saying Cleveland had nice balmy sunsets

When covering October baseball.
They were easterners and used to earlier sunsets.
They certainly broadcast like they had never been in Ohio before.
Cheering for the Yankees. &*$ Them

[krispos42]

5. I've been saying this for a while

Hopefully it would ease the traffic on I-95 a bit as people commuting to New York would leave an hour later than people commuting in-state.

[PJMcK]

7. Why do we need time zones?

Put the entire planet on UTC and get rid of Daylight Saving Time. Change to a 24-hour time system and eliminate AM and PM. That way everyone in the world is in the same time frame. So what if you go to work at 15:00? If the sun is rising what difference does it make what "time" it is?

I'm really only half-serious but I hate the confusion that time zones create which are then compounded by DST.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. A 24 hour time system, no AM or PM makes sense,

and most other countries use that. Our own military does, but pretty much no where else in civilian life.

If you're suggesting that all time zones be eliminated, and all clocks read the same, I think that would be vastly more confusing than the current time zones. All of China is on one time zone, and I'm not sure that works out real well, but I've never been to China nor do I ever have any occasion to deal with people or companies there.

[BigmanPigman]

8. Am I being stupid?

Time zones run North and South. The Earth's tilted axis makes countries closest to the Equator (and are closer to the sun) have more daylight while northern countries are further from the sun and have less daylight. This is latitude vs longitude. Therefore shouldn't states change the clocks depending on how far North and South they are located? Would this confuse people with the time zones that are based on the longitude across the entire planet for all countries? Perhaps we should just skip changing clocks after all.

I seem to recall that this was started in the 1970s when there was a huge energy crisis and people needed to conserve energy/electricity hence "Daylight SAVINGS Time".

[Shanti Mama]

9. New England is not just further north. It is almost much further east.

Look at a globe and you'll see it. I'm in Maine. We're in the same time zone as Indiana. Our sun is long gone when it's still shining brightly in Indianapolis.
I don't have a strong opinion about this possible revision of time zones, but people need to understand just how far east-west the eastern zone covers.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Daylight saving time has been around since at least WWI.

Uniform time zones in this country came about in the late 19th century because the railroads needed to be able to publish and adhere to schedules for the trains. Before then each city and locality had its own local time.

During WWI and WWII "war time" was observed, essentially DST as we know it. After WWII DST was observed in a hodge-podge, with different states and localities choosing whether or not to observe it.

In 1966 a federal law was passed requiring all states to observe DST, starting and ending on the same dates. Arizona opted out after one year.

Countries closer to the equator have more nearly equal days and nights. Very northern or southern parts of the globe have longer days in the summer, very short ones in the winter, and some get six months of darkness six months of night. The sun moves from east to west, that's why the time zones are based on east/west locations, not north/south.

In the 1970's DST was fiddled with, to the great dismay of many people.

I like DST. I do think it should start a month later and end a month earlier than it does, but I'm not in charge.

[BigmanPigman]

13. I like that idea of starting a month

later and ending a month earlier. I do remember going to school in the morning in the 70s with a flashlight so we could see walking to thr school bus stop one year. That must have been the year that they messed around with it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. That would have been the year they did DST

year round. It only lasted the one year because of the problem of kids going to school in the dark, and occasionally getting hit by cars not used to kids alongside the road in the dark.

[sl8]

15. Map of current time zones: