US Clocks Fall Back 1 Hour Sunday as Daylight Saving Time Ends

Q: If daylight saving time became permanent, how many more children would be heading to school before sunrise?

If daylight saving time were made permanent, researchers estimate children nationwide would make more than 2 billion additional trips to school before sunrise each year. That figure comes from a University of Washington study cited in the coverage. The researchers compared three scenarios — permanent standard time, the current clock-changing system, and permanent daylight saving time — using school start times and local sunrise data. In the 14 states they directly analyzed, permanent daylight saving time would create about 356 million extra before-sunrise school commutes annually compared with the current system. Extrapolated nationally, that rose to more than 2 billion. The study did not say 2 billion more individual children would be affected. Rather, it refers to additional child school commutes, or child-days of travel, in darkness over the course of a year. In the 14-state sample, the analysis covered about 8.6 million children at more than 16,000 schools. Researchers argued this matters because darker winter mornings could put more children on streets or at bus stops when drivers have less visibility. They found fatal school-morning crashes before sunrise were more likely to involve pedestrians, and for children ages 5 to 18 the odds were more than twice as high on dark mornings. So the best-supported estimate is not a headcount of extra children, but more than 2 billion additional before-sunrise school commutes nationwide each year under permanent daylight saving time.

3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Oct 31

2 a.m. Sunday marks the end of daylight saving time across most of the United States, sending clocks from 1:59 a.m. back to 1 a.m. and giving residents an extra hour.
March 14 is when daylight saving time returns, while standard time — and earlier sunsets through late fall and winter — will remain in place until then.
19 states have passed measures in the past seven years to adopt year-round time, but federal law still blocks permanent daylight saving time without congressional action.
2022 Senate passage of the Sunshine Protection Act failed to clear the House, and a 2025 version stalled this summer despite Trump pressing Republicans in October to revive it.
1918 is when the practice began; health and sleep experts still oppose permanent daylight saving time, warning that darker mornings can raise safety and health risks.