[Misc] Is it "time" to stop changing the clocks back & forth?

[Thunder Bolt]

Fair points but I believe it was brought in to unify the UK or at least England for the benefit of railway travel. It was obvious to use Greenwich Mean Time as mariners had been using it for centuries. Just because we adjust things to be more convenient does not mean the death of GMT.

It was long before the railways. 1761 was when John Harrison invented the maritime clock, which was why I mentioned seafarers etc.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I'd prefer to fix the root cause of the changing day length issue. The earth spins on an axis ~22 degrees off in relation to the sun so as we orbit the sun, variance in daylight length occurs and the further from the equator the greater the variance. Fix that and daylight hours won't change through the year.

One downside, mind, is that there will no longer be seasonal variation anywhere which might actually be worse than tinkering with the time twice a year.

I've always wondered why GMT lasts 5 months yet BST is 7 months?

Farming.

 

[Javeaseagull]

It was long before the railways. 1761 was when John Harrison invented the maritime clock, which was why I mentioned seafarers etc.

What I was referring to was the unification of times across the country. Until then Bristol and Plymouth had different times to London etc. Yes Harrison invented to first sea-going chronometer for accurate timings of the noon day sun. Before that clocks had pendulums which is obviously dodgy at sea! Same reason sailors are rubbish at snooker but red-hot at darts.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

What I was referring to was the unification of times across the country. Until then Bristol and Plymouth had different times to London etc. Yes Harrison invented to first sea-going chronometer for accurate timings of the noon day sun. Before that clocks had pendulums which is obviously dodgy at sea! Same reason sailors are rubbish at snooker but red-hot at darts.

Yes, I realised but my point was that the rest of the world base their local time from Greenwich Mean Time, Zulu.

 

[Albion 4ever]

Keep it as it is, but move BST to start of March rather than the end.

 

[sir_gullahad]

Get rid of it, and avoid the confusion around this time of year where some regions have "sprung" forward already, whereas others will be doing so in a few weeks (us here in Blighty, for one). GMT or BST permanently, I don't care.

If people want "more" daylight at certain times, then they should adjust their own schedules and not inflict it on the rest of us.

 

[Albion my Albion]

Keep it as it is, but move BST to start of March rather than the end.

In case you didn't know the US changed their clocks on March 8/9. Therefore until the morning of March 30 we are 4/5/6/7 hours different than the UK (4 time zones in the mainland US) I had to start work at 11:00 a.m. yesterday and missed the 2nd half of the Man City match. If the clocks had been changed at the same date the match would have been started at 9:00 a.m. US Central time and I would have watched the whole match.

 

[beorhthelm]

Get rid of it, and avoid the confusion around this time of year where some regions have "sprung" forward already, whereas others will be doing so in a few weeks (us here in Blighty, for one). GMT or BST permanently, I don't care.

If people want "more" daylight at certain times, then they should adjust their own schedules and not inflict it on the rest of us.

so solution for another country doing summertime change at a different date is to not change at all. sod the effects and the other country still changes.

 

[dsr-burnley]

Looking on the bright side, Arizona didn't change its clocks last weekend because they don't. (Other than the Indian reservations, where they do.) They seem to cope OK domestically, though perhaps international football times may be beyond them?

The big advantage of GMT in winter is that children go to school and go home in daylight. Change to summer time in winter, and it will be dark at the busiest time of day, with implications especially for road safety but also for child safety.

 

[dazzer6666]

Don’t really care, it won’t change the amount of daylight/darkness

 

[Kenn]

The big advantage of GMT in winter is that children go to school and go home in daylight. Change to summer time in winter, and it will be dark at the busiest time of day, with implications especially for road safety but also for child safety.

And yet studies have found road collisions increased by 19% in the two weeks immediately after October’s clock change to GMT, as more people drive home in the dark, so a change to BST in winter meaning lighter evenings could also reduce accidents. (source BBC News website last October)

 

[Thunder Bolt]

We tried BST all year round for three years 69-71, which was hated by many especially in Scotland.
It was agreed to revert back to GMT and BST from March to October.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Has anyone done the joke about Burnley fans turning their clocks back to 1963 yet?

If not, count me IN.