Daylight Saving Time: Proposition 7 In California And Monterey Personal Injury Risks
Daylight Saving Time goes into effect at 2:00 a.m. on March 12, 2023. This is likely to create some confusion for California residents, who may remember voting to do away with the practice via Proposition 7. Find out why time changes are still a state-wide practice and how they can increase personal injury risks in Monterey.
Proposition 7 Promised To Do Away With Time Changes, So Why Are They Still In Effect?
Contrary to popular myth, Daylight Saving Time has nothing to do with farming. The decision to move clocks ahead an hour each spring was made in 1918, during World War I. Extending the day an additional hour to take advantage of a naturally occurring later sunset was designed to reduce energy use and conserve resources.
Today, experts dispute whether it actually made any difference and there is a push among many states to do away with the practice. As Oregon and Washington, who also observe Pacific Standard Time, voted to remain in Daylight Saving Time year-round, California voters voiced their preference via Proposition 7 in 2018. While the proposition won the vote, it stalled in the state legislature.
This was not the only roadblock. It would still take an act of the U.S. Congress to allow the Pacific Coast to do away with time changes. Florida Senator Mark Rubio introduced the Sunshine Protection Act in 2021, which would have paved the way for the entire country to observe Daylight Savings time throughout the year. However, while that passed in the Senate, it stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives and has still not been signed into law.
How Time Changes Increase Personal Injury Risks
Aside from the inconvenience of switching clocks back and forth twice a year, there are practical reasons for doing away with time changes. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Daylight Saving Time disrupts our circadian rhythms, which regulate body functions and organs based on signals from the brain. These rely on light and dark in determining when our bodies need to rest.
Changing the time by even an hour impacts these rhythms and can have some potentially serious health consequences. Heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and other disorders, as well as mental health issues, tend to spike each year in the weeks after time changes. Unfortunately, disruptions in sleep schedules also tend to make people more accident-prone, leading to significant increases in the following:
- Car accidents;
- Truck accidents;
- Bicycle and pedestrian accidents;
- Slips and falls;
- Work-related accidents and overuse injuries.
Our Monterey Personal Injury Lawyers Help You Get Compensation
While time changes can play a role in making personal injuries more likely to happen, negligence on the part of others may still ultimately be to blame. At the Allen Law Firm, we help you get the compensation you need to recover. Call or contact our Monterey personal injury lawyers online and request a consultation today.
Sources:
lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=7&year=2018
congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/623
nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2021/daylight-saving-time-changes-impact-people-differently-according-new-research
