On the first Sunday in November, at 2 a.m., the clock goes back one hour to standard time. On the second Sunday in March, at 2 a.m., the clocks in most of the United States and many other countries move forward one hour and stay there for almost eight months in what is called daylight saving time.

The current March to November system that the US follows began in 2007, but the concept of “saving daylight” is much older. Daylight saving time has its origins in train schedules, but was put into practice in Europe and the United States to save fuel and energy during World War I, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

RELATED: The Year Daylight Savings Time Went Too Far

Pro tip: It’s daylight saving time, with the singular use of “save” and not “save.”

Reasons for daylight saving time

The US kept daylight saving time permanently through most of World War II. The idea was introduced to save fuel and keep things standard. As the war ended in 1945, Gallup asked respondents how to determine time. Only 17% wanted to keep the then ‘wartime’ all year round.

During the energy crisis of the 1970s, we tried permanent daylight saving time again in the winter of 1973-1974. The idea again was to save fuel. It was a popular move at the time when President Richard Nixon signed the law into law in January 1974. But by the end of the month, Florida’s governor had called for the law to be repealed after eight schoolchildren were hit by cars in the dark. Schools across the country delayed start times until the sun rose.

By the summer, public approval had plummeted, and in early October Congress voted to return to standard time.

In the US, states are not required by law to ‘fall back’ or ‘leap forward’. Hawaii, most of Arizona, and some areas in the Pacific and Caribbean do not observe daylight saving time. The biennial switcheroo is so irritating to lawmakers of all political stripes that the U.S. Senate passed legislation in March 2022 to make daylight saving time permanent. The bill was passed unanimously.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives failed to bring the bill to a vote in 2022. On March 2, 2023, a dozen senators, forming a bipartisan group, reintroduced legislation that would end the clock switching in favor of permanent daylight saving time. Companion legislation to the Sunshine Protection Act was introduced by Representative Vern Buchanan, a Republican from Florida, in the House of Representatives.

Why do we need daylight saving time?