http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/192899/Q-A-Why-should-we-change...
Q&A: WHY SHOULD WE CHANGE THE CLOCKS?
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Why do we need to change the clocks to have an extra hour of daylight?
Friday August 13,2010
By Daily Express Reporter
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WHY do we need to change the clocks to have an extra hour of daylight?
Longer, brighter evenings would make roads safer, cut energy bills, benefit the environment and boost tourism, according to campaigners. It would also
mean people could do more activities in the evenings, particularly in
the winter months.
How will it save lives?
Evidence shows that up to 80 lives a year would be saved on Britain’s roads as millions of journeys would take place in daylight rather than the
dark.Road safety campaigners argue that children would be safer as most
accidents involving them take place after school, not before.
What will happen to the tourist industry?
Experts predict the industry would earn an extra £4billion a year and create 80,000 jobs. Attractions such as Alton Towers would be able to stay open
later, particularly in the spring and autumn when the nights begin to
close in. The Scottish skiing industry would also benefit. Pubs and
restaurants could reap the rewards as more people would be willing to go
out after work if it is lighter.
What are the benefits to the environment?
Environmental groups say brighter evenings could save almost 500,000 tons of CO2 each year, equivalent to taking 185,000 cars off the road permanently, as
people would drive less. Household bills could also go down as people
spend more time outdoors.
How would the change happen?
“Double Summer Time” could be achieved by not turning the clocks back one autumn, after which the usual cycle of putting the clocks forward an
hour in spring and back an hour in autumn would resume.
The change would bring the country in line with much of the rest of Europe.
When is the change likely to happen?
The change could be implemented next autumn – it needs to go through Parliament first. David Cameron has signalled his willingness to pursue
the issue but he needs the support of the public. A three-year trial is
the most likely prospect at the moment.
FROM SAVING LIVES TO MONEY, THE SWITCH TICKS ALL THE BOXES
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David Cameron has promised to look at the idea
Friday August 13,2010
By John Ingham, Environment Editor
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SWITCHING to British Summer Time all year round would save lives and money and boost the economy without any cost to the country, supporters claim.
They include the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which estimates that single BST in winter and double BST in summer – SDST – would prevent 450 deaths and injuries on
the roads each year.
It cites a winter trial of BST between 1968 and 1971 when road accident deaths and serious injuries dropped by 11 per cent in England and 17 per
cent in Scotland.
Four years ago the Department for Transport estimated that the change would save about 100 lives a year on the road.
ROSPA says preventing this many deaths would save the country about £200million. Changing permanently to BST increases evening daylight
while reducing the hours of daylight in the early morning when fewer
people are up and about.
ROSPA says that extra evening daylight would protect vulnerable road users like children, the elderly and cyclists by making them more visible to
motorists.
It argues that from November to February there are 50 per cent more fatal and serious injuries from 4pm to 7pm compared with 7am to 10am, and three times as
many among children in the peak hours from 3pm to 6pm compared with 7am
to 10am.
But there would also be other benefits, including lower energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions.The Energy Saving Trust has estimated that SDST would save
one per cent of the UK’s energy, cutting bills by £260million a year.
This includes £60million off domestic and £200million off business energy bills. At the same time the switch would cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Tory MP Tim Yeo, chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, said a Cambridge University study showed SDST would cut
emissions by 1.2 million tons a year “at no cost to consumers”.
He said: “During World War II BST+1 was used in winter and BST+2 in summer to save fuel. It made sense then and it makes sense now.” The move
would align Britain with its major trading partner, the EU and increase
tourism turnover in Britain by £1billion a year.
CLICK HERE TO BACK OUR CAMPAIGN
HOW THE WORLD SET ITS CLOCKS TO GMT
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How the world began to use Greewich Mean Time as a reference point
Friday August 13,2010
By Anil Dawar
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GREENWICH Mean Time developed into the global time reference point thanks to Britain’s naval power in the 18th and 19th centuries.
British sailors always carried at least one chronometer – a highly precise clock – set to GMT so they could calculate their longitude away from the Greenwich Meridian of zero
degrees.
As increasing numbers of mariners from different nations began using the same measurements, GMT became the universally accepted reference point and
led to the creation of time zones.
It was adopted as the official UK time in 1880.
Not long after, British Summer Time and the practice of moving clocks forward an hour between May and October became law with the Summer Time
Act in 1916.
The change came about thanks to the campaigning efforts of English builder William Willett.
The flexible system gave farmers more daylight hours to work in their fields and saved coal for the war effort.
During the Second World War, the country entered into Double Summer Time. It kept the hour’s advance on GMT at the start of the winter of 1940 and
for the subsequent five winters and continued to advance the clocks by
an extra hour each summer and then back one hour in winter.
Clocks in Britain reverted to GMT at the end of the summer of 1945.
In 1968, Prime Minister Harold Wilson began a three-year experiment to synchronise UK time with the Continent, calling it British Standard
Time.
The UK now uses the same time zone as Ireland and Portugal. Recent parliamentary attempts
to adopt the time used in the rest of Western Europe have all failed.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/192900/How-the-world-set-its-cl...
