As an early morning commuter, I have a personal message for Edward J. Markey, the congressman who came up with the bright idea of having spring daylight-saving time start weeks early: You blew it.
Markey convinced Congress that moving the time change up three weeks would be a cost-free solution to many of the country's woes. His contention was that more daylight in the evening would combat crime and economic stagnation, erase the winter "blahs" that many people experience, save energy, and reduce automobile collisions.
Since I seem to be having a particularly tough time getting up in the dim shadows of morn this spring, it follows that I am more than a little bleary-eyed by the time I plunk myself down behind the wheel. And as we all know, tired drivers are dangerous drivers.
According to U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates, drowsiness accounts for about 4 percent of all fatal crashes - more than 1,500 deaths each year. Tired drivers are a major cause of catastrophic accidents with injuries. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 police-reported crashes annually - about 1.5 percent of all crashes - involve drowsiness and fatigue as a principal causal factor.
But I am not the only unhappy early-rising camper on the horizon. The government has fielded complaints from farmers who rise at first light, Orthodox Jews who pray before sunrise, parents whose children have to travel to school in the dark, runners who train before work, and even U.S.-based airlines that risk losing preferred landing and liftoff positions at international airports, which operate on a different schedule.
Probably the only business that is truly benefiting from the new national "wake at the crack of dawn" schedule are those that sell expensive cups of caffeinated motivation.
My discomfort with rising in the dark in spring is not without basis. Since the last time anyone dared mess with daylight-saving time in 1986, we have traditionally put the clock forward for spring toward the end of March. By then, the days truly are longer and it is light by 6:15 a.m., which makes waking up earlier much more palatable.
I can only assume Markey must not have to get up too early for his commute to his government job. Or perhaps Markey is just one of those naturally perky morning people.
If a primary purpose of the new law was to prevent morning "blahs," Markey need only make a brief visit to the Gordy household at 6 a.m. to view a working example of the failure of this particular goal.
Final note to Markey: For your visit, you might want to bring a flashlight, as it is still pitch dark at my home at that time, and I wouldn't want you to trip over the dog.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
