House Bill To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent Could Be Good For Your Sleep And Potentially Preventing Fatal Crashes

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote on a bill that could make daylight saving time a permanent fixture for the country. No longer will most Americans be a slave to changing every digital clock in the house twice a year, and studies find that the country could benefit in preventing some fatal crashes associated with the lost hour in the spring time change.

Called the "Sunshine Protection Act of 2025," Reuters reported the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 48-1 in favor of nixing the twice-a-year practice and moving to a permanent year-round daylight saving time. The act is a short read that basically repeals the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which had established the practice of every state and time zone observing daylight saving time. In this iteration of the bill, states also have the option to opt out of the practice if they so desire.

There's been a lot of discourse with how time is observed in the United States since the Calder Act in 1918 which introduced the practice of daylight saving time. At one point, states were able to adopt the practice if they wanted to. The idea was forced later in 1966 with the Uniform Time Act because the time changes were kinda everywhere and made travel and the movement of goods across the country near unbearable. Not everyone appreciated a forced time change though, so in 1972, the 1966 act was amended to allow states to opt out. Arizona and Hawaii were the only two states to take advantage of getting out of daylight saving time, instead practicing Standard Time year-round. U.S. territories Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have also followed suit.

Maybe those states have the right idea, as a prominent argument surrounding daylight saving time's twice-a-year clock adjustment has been how it affects drivers, and recent studies have shown it has been rather deadly.

Several studies have been conducted through the decades since the introduction of daylight saving time to understand the effects of the imparted time change on road safety. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's most recent findings in 2025 found fatal crashes had increased by as much as 12% in the five weeks following the spring forward change, where individuals lose an hour. That study also found that fatal crashes decreased by 7.1% in the five weeks following the autumn time change where clocks are set back an hour. For our sleep-deprived existence, that extra hour really does wonders for the body and mind, and lives, huh?

The study, published in the Journal of Safety Research, added context to the behavioral effects of drivers in that instances, saying it can take up to a week to full adjust to the time change. The disruption in sleep via the change can result in drowsy driving, increasing the risk of crashes. But the real issue comes down to the light available to drivers. The study found that 25% of total travel (vehicles and pedestrians) happens in when it's dark out, but 48% of all vehicular crashes happen during dark hours.

What's interesting is that it's an even deadlier time for pedestrians, as 77% of pedestrian crashes occur in those same dark hours, specifically during twilight or that first hour of darkness. The study also found there was a reverse effect in daylight saving time fatal crashes for cyclists and pedestrians, with fatal crashes decreasing by 24% during the spring time hour change, and increasing by 13% with the fall change when it gets dark earlier. Darkness itself appears to be the main culprit in the danger of crashes.

The idea is that a permanent time change would absolutely be beneficial in reducing crashes, but researchers in the earlier mentioned study had concluded that it's unclear whether keeping time consistent would change the number of crashes that happen every year. Rather, they theorize that some of the crashes could just shift to a different time of day or year. 

It's also worth considering that studies haven't looked at how permanent daylight saving time would affect all states, especially the neighbors furthest north where days get considerably shorter in the winter, and states that lie on the far west side of their time zones. For instance, my home in West Michigan, approximately 45 minutes from the next time zone, sees later daylight hours, but the dark morning hours extend much later compared to follow time zone folks in New York. Certainly there could be some differences or ways to examine whether the change in daylight hour times, coinciding with traffic, might affect those deadly statistics.

Regardless, keeping a consistent regular time will likely be beneficial to all, not just for driving but functioning as a human being, which is why measures like the Sunshine Protection Act are continually discussed and introduced into Congress. What adult human ever enjoys losing any sleep, let alone a pre-determined hour once a year?