'Should the clocks go back?' Poll discussion

charis18uk

As soon as the clocks go back my 9yr old son's curfew is so early that during the autumn/winter months the children in our street hardly get a chance to play outside at all.

I get up for work at 0530 when its dark, I leave at 0630 when its still dark so an extra hour of darkness is hardly going to matter.

Also, as a shift worker (including nights) it's hard enough feeling human with the shift patterns without the clocks going back and forwards. Never liked it, so lets get shot of it!!!

Pink_Womble

I agree the clocks going back and forth takes a little adjustment, but surely life is about being able to adjust.

My MAJOR concern is what about all the SAD sufferers? they have a hard enough time living in this country that has more darkness than light.

Darker mornings are going to mean more people being signed off sick from work or getting sacked etc etc because they can't get going in morning. :eek:

I think its a ridiculous idea and am really concerned about the amount of people in favour of this.
(why is no-one talking about this angle, or am i totally missing something?? :undecided)

jsknight100

I would like to see the clocks not put back in the Autumn & the following Spring the clocks put forward an hour & the next Autumn put the clocks back.

Rospa are in favour of this & they claim it would save lives!

See enclosed link

http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/general/british-summertime-factsheet.aspx


There is also an energy saving argument:

http://www.rospa.com/faqs/detail.aspx?faq=424

Seems pretty convincing to me!

geordie_joe

ariba10 wrote: »

During the last war the clocks were not put back in the autumn one year but put on one hour the next spring.

Resulting in Double British Summertime. It was light up to about 11.30pm at the height of summer.

But the sun didn't come up in the winter until 10.00 am.

We had this is the late 60's early 70's and it was abandoned because it was sh!te. Sounded good in theory,but when it was actually put into practise it was rubbish.

I don't remember too much about it, except being issued with reflective arm band at school, and being given lessons in walking to school in the dark.

I don't know what it was like for the adults, I was only around 10 years old. But for me it was being sent to bed when I couldn't sleep because it was still daytime, then being dragged out of bed when it was still the middle of the night.

I remember being sent to bed, then climbing out the bedroom window to play with my mates, because it was still daylight.

I also remember my dad telling me, years later, that less people got killed on the roads during that time. But it was less drunks driving home from the pub that got killed, but more kids got killed walking to school in the dark mornings. Apparently, those bright yellow arm bands weren't as good as they were cracked up to be.

I suppose it might be different these days. They keep telling us that more people die in car crashes during the light summer nights than do at xmas when it is dark and more people drink. So making the nights lighter might get rid of a few more speeding motorists.

And given a choice, most kids would prefer to be an orphan than a corpse, so anything that shifts the accident rate to the evening should be a good thing for kids.

Vectra

leave the clocks alone to me it's a lot of messing about. Absolutely hate darkness at 400-pm

camaj

Pink_Womble wrote: »

Darker mornings are going to mean more people being signed off sick from work or getting sacked etc etc because they can't get going in morning. :eek:

I think its a ridiculous idea and am really concerned about the amount of people in favour of this.
(why is no-one talking about this angle, or am i totally missing something?? :undecided)

It might mean darker mornings but mornings are dark in the winter anyway. However it would mean lighter evenings and for those people, it'd probably be benificial to have lighter evenings when they're not at work.

While I'm not a SAD sufferer (AFAIK) I really love light evenings. I don't feel like doing anything when it's dark and miserable outside, so I'd love an extra hour every day.

Vectra wrote: »

leave the clocks alone to me it's a lot of messing about. Absolutely hate darkness at 400-pm

Likewise. I remember it being twilight when school finished at 3:30pm. It feels like the day has finished, before you've even got home.

However if you feel that way, surely leaving the clocks alone would mean keeping things the way they are. The only way to change things is to keep us on BST through the winter. I'd even enjoy double BST in the winter and the clocks going back an hour in the summer.

It'd save a lot of money too, people wouldn't be cooped up indoors watching TV etc.

The downside is it might be worse for kids, but TBH so few kids walk these days that it's not the problem it once might have been.

ailuro2

I'm in Scotland and a SAD sufferer - leave things the way they are please - remember it's not just in the week either side of the shortest day, it's all the days before and after that too - so while I do spend some of the winter going to work in the dark already, there's a bigger chunk of time where I go to work with the sun up (well, it's up behind those rainclouds somewhere, making it less dark!)

So, if we change to permanent European time I'd be driving to work in the dark for weeks at a time instead of just a few.;)

My DD will be walking to school every day, right now it's OK as she only has to walk a couple of hundred yards. when she goes to High School next year it will be nearly 2 miles each way. I'd prefer her not to have to walk that in the dark.;)

One solution not mentioned is to give Scotland and the north of England a separate time zone from the southern end of England. Different time zones work with little problem in the US, why can't it work here?:D

twixeey

ailuro2 wrote: »

I'm in Scotland and a SAD sufferer - leave things the way they are please - remember it's not just in the week either side of the shortest day, it's all the days before and after that too - so while I do spend some of the winter going to work in the dark already, there's a bigger chunk of time where I go to work with the sun up (well, it's up behind those rainclouds somewhere, making it less dark!)

So, if we change to permanent European time I'd be driving to work in the dark for weeks at a time instead of just a few.;)

My DD will be walking to school every day, right now it's OK as she only has to walk a couple of hundred yards. when she goes to High School next year it will be nearly 2 miles each way. I'd prefer her not to have to walk that in the dark.;)

One solution not mentioned is to give Scotland and the north of England a separate time zone from the southern end of England. Different time zones work with little problem in the US, why can't it work here?:D

I think if this is what Scotland would like lets do it... it sound like the rest of the UK would prefer the change, and Scotland can have a different time zone.

eganchips

If as it would appear, most of the objections concern the 'plight' of schoolchildren in Scotland, why can they not change the school hours there? Ultimately, there are only the same number of hours in a day.

twixeey

eganchips wrote: »

If as it would appear, most of the objections concern the 'plight' of schoolchildren in Scotland, why can they not change the school hours there? Ultimately, there are only the same number of hours in a day.

Excellent idea:T