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DST—It's best for Whistler

LETTER: For the week of March 14
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SHUTTERSTOCK

At this time of year, I am always amused at the rhetoric I hear on the news about how hard it is for some to adjust themselves to what amounts to a mere change of one hour on a Sunday morning.

Who are these delicate fools? Have they never caught an early flight, gone to a great (late-night) party, never watched a late show, nor ordered decaf and were served regular coffee?

Is there really anybody who is affected by this change? People, if Daylight Saving Time—with a change of only one hour—causes your life pain, stress or as claimed on TV, contributed to your car accident, you have way bigger troubles.

Let's face it, in the fall you get an extra hour of sleep, so it really only costs us the loss of one precious hour of sleep in the spring. You are asking us to change?

The answer to this debate, on whether this practice makes sense or not, should fall in what is best for our province. More selfishly, perhaps, what is best for Whistler? Or what's best for the school kids.

In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time changed in 2005 under The Energy Policy Act, in a way that really helped Whistler, I think.

CNN joked that it should be called the "Halloween Safety Act." Why? It was the makers of candy that lobbied for the fall date, the turning back of the clock to Standard Time, moved from the weekend before Halloween to the weekend after. Kids were safer with more light to trick or treat in and Halloween was therefore more enjoyable, and, yes, more candy was sold.

It was called the Energy Policy Act for a reason. Daylight Saving was designed and adopted by many regions with intelligent thought to allow the hours of the day we are most active to be blessed with the most available sunshine. Why turn the lights on if we don't need to? Why sleep when the sun's up?

With the change that occurred in 2005, something amazing happened in Whistler and contributed significantly to the appeal of spring skiing and all winter sports.

The turning of the clocks forward was moved from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, giving spring break longer daylight hours. Now the snow turns to mush one hour later, après skiing is delightful, and that added little bit of afternoon sun contributes to every aspect of our resort operation: grooming, search and rescue and other non-skiing activities.

The change could be March 1, as far as I am concerned.

When my friends back East come here to snowmobile, I tell them to come after March 15 due to the longer daylight hours. That extra hour of daylight comes in handy if you're lost.

I mentioned the school kids earlier: keep this in mind, if we do not change the clocks back in the fall, the school children would be commuting to school in the dark from November to early February.

So, I say to all those who are complaining about their lost hour of sleep, enjoy the afternoon sunshine.

Lance Bright

Whistler