Myth 1: Kids would have to walk to school in the dark under permanent DST
-
Only 11% of kids currently walk to school (down from ~45% in 1974) as parental chauffeuring has skyrocketed
-
Only ~5% of kids would walk to school in the dark (after Civil Dawn) under permanent DST
Myth 2: Mornings will be pitch black
When critics of permanent DST talk about "kids walking to school in the dark," they are usually looking at a sunrise calendar. But for anyone actually standing on a sidewalk, sunrise isn't when it gets light; it’s just when the sun’s disc finally clears the horizon. The real start of the day is Civil Dawn, which marks the beginning of Civil Twilight.
Scientifically, Civil Twilight is the window of time when there is enough natural light for the human eye to clearly distinguish objects without the need for artificial illumination. During this window, which typically begins 25 to 35 minutes before the actual sunrise, there is enough ambient light to read a newspaper outside.
To illustrate this concept, we took screenshots from an SFO airport YouTube live stream on Feb. 19. Notice the drastic change as sunrise approaches.
Myth 3: It won't be light until 9am in a significant part of the country
We created the map below to show Civil Twilight start times across the country under permanent DST on the shortest day of the year, winter solstice.
-
Only 4% of the US population lives in an area where Civil Twilight would start after 8:30am
-
Only 15% of the US population lives in an area where Civil Twilight would start after 8:15am
-
67% of the US population lives in an area where Civil Twilight would start before 8:00am
-
Edge cases where there isn't usable light until after 9am are exceptionally rare
Our Interactive County-Level Map and Zip Code Tool show Civil Twilight start times, Sunrise times, and Sunset times across the country.
Who actually wakes up before it's light?
Population distribution of Americans by what time Civil Twilight begins where they live, under Standard Time vs. Permanent DST. Even under Permanent DST, ~96% of the population still sees light before 8:30 AM
Myth 4: Permanent DST was tried in 1974 and failed. Why try again?
Reality: It didn't fail on the data; it was torpedoed by a media-driven moral panic during a world that looks nothing like today.
The Morning "Accident Spike" That Wasn’t
In January 1974, the U.S. switched to year-round DST to save energy. Headlines immediately screamed about a "Daylight Disaster" involving schoolchildren in the dark.
-
The Florida Stat: Much was made of 8 schoolchildren killed in early-morning car crashes.
-
The National Truth: According to the National Safety Council, total pre-sunrise school-age fatalities nationwide rose from 18 to 20.
-
The Reality: That is a difference of two deaths across the entire United States. While every tragedy matters, a national policy was repealed based on a statistical ripple.
What the Headlines Ignored
While the mornings were darker, the afternoons were significantly safer. Because more people drove home in the daylight, the overall safety impact was positive:
-
Net Reductions: an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study noted that there is significantly more traffic volume (both cars and pedestrians) during the evening commute than during the morning commute, and permanent DST would have saved 180 lives per year.
-
The National Safety Council reported no notable increase in early-morning student fatalities between January 1973 and January 1974, according to United Press International.
1974 vs. Today: Why the Comparison Fails
If you are worried about morning darkness, remember that 1974 was a different era of technology and infrastructure:
-
The School Commute: In 1974, walking alone was the default. Today, most kids are driven or ride modern buses.
-
Visibility: In 1974, cars had dim, yellow halogen "sealed-beam" headlights. Today’s LED and HID systems illuminate the roadside (where kids stand) with significantly more clarity and distance.
-
Stopping Power: 1974 cars had primitive brakes that locked up and skidded in the dark. Modern Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) and automatic emergency braking can prevent a collision before it happens.
-
Infrastructure: We have moved from sparse, orange-tinted streetlights to high-contrast LED grid lighting and high-visibility crosswalks.
The Real Killer: The "Switch"
We no longer have to guess about the risks. Decades of modern research show that the biannual "Spring Forward" is the actual danger:
-
The 6% Spike: Fatal traffic accidents jump by 6% in the week following the time change.
-
The Health Toll: The disruption causes a measurable increase in heart attacks and workplace injuries.
-
The Evening Benefit: Permanent evening light is proven to lower crime rates and provide safer commutes for the entire workforce.
Myth 5: Permanent DST throws our bodies out of sync with the sun, robbing us of 19 minutes of sleep every night
The argument is a classic statistical sleight-of-hand. Lobbyists for standard time are misinterpreting a study and falsely presenting it as a national guarantee. Here is why their math fails:
Opponents pull this statistic from the Giuntella and Mazzonna study that looked at people living on the extreme opposite edges of a time zone border (for example, comparing a town on the far eastern edge of the Central Time Zone to a town just across the border on the far western edge). The study found that people on the extreme western edge sleep about 19 minutes less per year on average.
The 19 minutes is an annual average which hides the fact that the effect essentially disappears in the winter. In the spring and summer, with sunset late in the evening, people have trouble falling asleep because their circadian rhythm is disrupted by the sunshine . But in the winter, with the sun setting before 6:00 PM, the study found the gap shrinks to 7-9 minutes.
The Real Danger: Standard time lobbyists want you to worry about a negligible 7-minute sleep gap in January to distract you from a proven, deadly reality: the biannual clock change kills. Maintaining the status quo forces a massive physiological shock on the entire country twice a year. By eliminating the "spring forward" transition, we immediately prevent the 6% spike in fatal car crashes and the 24% surge in heart attacks that devastate the nation every March. We must stop trading lives for a few minutes of winter sleep.
Myth 6: We need the morning sun to wake up naturally
The idea that Americans wake up "with the sun" is a romanticized myth. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Edison Research reveals that the vast majority of the population is already disconnected from the sun’s schedule.
-
The "Sunrise Window": Biologically, "waking with the sun" happens in a very narrow window: between the start of civil twilight (when the sky begins to brighten) and about 15 minutes after the sun actually clears the horizon.
-
The Reality Gap: During winter under our current system, approximately 45% of Americans wake up in the dark . ~35% wake up in broad daylight. Only ~20% of the population actually wakes up with the sun.
-
The Alarm Clock Era: We live in an era of alarm clocks, blackout curtains, and artificial indoor lighting. Our wake-up times are dictated by school bells and office hours, not the solar cycle.
Myth 7: Construction workers and farmers who start early would be hurt
This one sounds intuitive, but it dissolves under scrutiny. Outdoor workers whose jobs depend on daylight — farmers, construction crews, landscapers — already adjust their start times with the seasons. A crew doesn't break ground at 5:30am on a January morning regardless of what the clock says; they start when there's enough light to work safely. Their constraint is sunrise, not the time zone. Permanent DST doesn't move the sun.
Permanent DST doesn't create darkness, it redistributes it. December has roughly nine hours of daylight no matter what. The question is whether those hours fall 7am–4pm or 8am–5pm. Shifting to the latter means outdoor workers who did start early would simply adjust by an hour, the same adjustment they already make every spring.