Daylight saving time began today with clocks “springing ahead” by an hour early this morning.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=29]
Most of the United States observes daylight saving time, with the exception of Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and most of Arizona. The Navajo Nation does observe daylight saving time, even in Arizona.
Throughout the years, daylight saving time has contributed to many stories in which falling back or springing ahead by an hour has created some unexpected results. From changing the birth order of twins on paper, to thwarting bomb attacks, daylight saving time has provided the world with some interesting tales.
The website webexhibits.org, an online interactive museum, has created a list of some incidents and anecdotes related to daylight saving time. Below are some of the interesting stories from that list. To see all the incidents and anecdotes compiled by webexhibits.org, click here.
Time Change Riots:
Patrons of bars that stay open past 2:00 a.m. lose one hour of drinking time on the day when daylight saving time springs forward one hour. This has led to annual problems in numerous locations, and sometimes even to riots. For example, at a “time disturbance” in Athens, Ohio, site of Ohio University, over 1,000 students and other late night partiers chanted “Freedom” as they threw liquor bottles at the police attempting to control the riot.
Bomb Thwarted:
In September 1999, the West Bank was on daylight saving time while Israel had just switched back to standard time. West Bank terrorists prepared time bombs and smuggled them to their Israeli counterparts, who misunderstood the time on the bombs. As the bombs were being planted, they exploded–one hour too early–killing three terrorists instead of the intended victims–two busloads of people.
Stealing Time
As with the U.S., Great Britain has had a checkered past with daylight saving time. In the early part of the 20th century, citizens protested the change, using the slogan, “Give us back our stolen hour.”
Crime Rates:
A study by the U.S. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration found that crime was consistently less during periods of daylight saving time than during comparable standard time periods. Data showed violent crime down 10 to 13 percent. It is clear that for most crimes where darkness is a factor, such as muggings, there are many more incidents after dusk than before dawn, so light in the evening is most welcome.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=20]
Twins:
While twins born at 11:55 p.m. and 12:05 a.m. may have different birthdays, daylight saving time can change birth order–on paper, anyway. During the time change in the fall, one baby could be born at 1:55 a.m. and the sibling born ten minutes later, at 1:05 a.m. In the spring, there is a gap when no babies are born at all: from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.
In November 2007, Laura Cirioli of North Carolina gave birth to Peter at 1:32 a.m. and, 34 minutes later, to Allison. However, because daylight saving time reverted to Standard Time at 2:00 a.m., Allison was born at 1:06 a.m.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=19 delay=5 max_width=800]
