US House Passes Permanent DST Bill as Doctors Warn of 2 Billion Dark School Commutes
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 31
US House Passes Permanent DST Bill as Doctors Warn of 2 Billion Dark School Commutes
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 31
Summary
House-passed legislation backed by President Donald Trump would make daylight saving time permanent, even as major U.S. medical groups argue the country should adopt year-round standard time instead.
A 2026 analysis found students in 94 of the 100 largest school districts would travel to school in darkness under permanent DST, with some western time-zone areas not seeing sunrise until after 9 a.m.
A new Cell Biology study estimated permanent DST would add more than 2 billion school commutes before sunrise each year, a key concern because children ages 5 to 18 face more than double the pedestrian death risk before sunrise.
Medical experts say the broader problem is circadian disruption: later evening light delays sleep, while clock changes already correlate with spikes in car crashes, heart attacks and workplace accidents.
The debate leaves lawmakers split between the Sunshine Protection Act and a rival standard-time bill, reviving a policy the U.S. abandoned in 1974 after backlash over children waiting for buses in the dark.