Did the Americans end their hours for the last time? The Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to permanently abandon winter time and make daylight saving time permanent.
• Read also: Time change: one hour less sleep, one hour more sunshine
“Changing the clock is an outdated concept that causes frustration and confusion. It is just stupid, there is no other way to put it,” said Senator Marco Rubio, author of the bill.
In Circulation Tuesday, the elected official from Florida drew a direct causal link between the time changes and the increase in “heart attacks and car accidents.”
Daylight saving time “literally darkens our lives,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a senator from Rhode Island on the east coast, as night falls from 4:15 p.m. in December, with daylight saving time coming on.
With daylight saving time, the sun rises…and sets later.
However, this bill’s fate is uncertain: To enter into force, it must now be passed in the House of Representatives and signed into law by Joe Biden – who has the power to veto it. The President has not yet announced his position on this file.
The main idea behind changing the time was originally to match the hours of activity and the hours of sunshine to reduce the use of artificial lighting.
But its critics deplore the negative effects on circadian rhythms, especially in children.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the abandonment of winter time is also in the works: the European Commission in September 2018 proposed to abolish it … in 2019. But the European Parliament voted in March 2019 to postpone it to 2021 since then, the Covid crisis has been -19 exists, and the file is pending.
