(WFRV) – It’s a common idea year after year. Turn the clocks ahead and potentially stay ahead permanently. However, did you know year-round daylight saving has been signed into law before? The results weren’t the best.

The Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act began on January 6, 1974, which turned the clocks ahead. According to congress.gov, the Arab oil boycott of 1973 caused long lines and soaring prices at gas stations. In response, the Nixon Administration tried implementing year-round daylight saving time to reduce both electric and oil consumption.

Although the public was in favor of the law passing, shortly after negative reaction came. Parents complained about kids traveling before sunrise to school which also lead to more accidents.

Just to give you an idea, if the law was passed this January as it did in 1974, below would be the new sunrises on January 6, 2022. Green Bay would have shifted from 7:28 a.m. to 8:28 a.m. On the western side of the central time zone, Williston, North Dakota would change from 8:43 a.m. to 9:43 a.m. It’s pretty easy to see why parents would complain about their kids traveling in the dark almost immediately.  

A few months after changing the clocks forward, a report had inconclusive evidence that change was effective in saving oil and electricity. By the end of October 1974, year-round daylight saving time was abandoned. Daylight saving time wasn’t the only thing attempted to save oil, a national speed limit of 55 mph was also introduced to be more fuel-efficient in 1973.