MOULTRIE, Ga. — Despite a vote by the General Assembly two years ago, daylight saving time will end this weekend.
In March 2021, the legislature voted to keep daylight saving time year-round, but the law hinged on Congress changing the national law. So far, that hasn’t happened.
Two states — Hawaii and most of Arizona — and some U.S. territories observe standard time all year long. Most swap from standard time to daylight saving time in March and back again in November. Georgia is among nearly 20 states that have passed supporting legislation to do away with the time change and make what’s now called daylight saving time permanent.
The federal law does not currently allow that change, so the Georgia law is on hold until Congress changes that law.
In the meantime, daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 5. Turn your clocks back one hour then or before you go to bed on Saturday night to adapt to the time change.
The idea for daylight-saving time began with Benjamin Franklin’s essay “An Economical Project” in 1784, according to webexhibits.org, but it wasn’t put to use until World War I. In 1916, Germany and Austria pushed their clocks forward an hour to save fuel for the war effort. Other European nations — who were fighting Germany and Austria and needed fuel for their war efforts — quickly followed suit. The United States did likewise in 1918.
Moving the clock an hour forward changes the clock’s time relative to daylight. It effectively moves an hour of daylight from the morning into the evening, which has a variety of effects: It allows families to have outdoor activities after work, it reduces electricity use by about 1 percent per day because less power is used for lighting, and it even reduces traffic accidents as fatigued drivers gain the benefit of extra light.
The clock-changing dates are used as reminders of important biannual activities — most commonly, changing the batteries in your home’s smoke detectors.
The International Association of Fire Chiefs and the American Burn Association have long sponsored the “Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery” fire safety program, which encourages people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors at the same time they change their clocks to ensure the smoke detector will work if there’s ever a fire. If your smoke alarm uses standard batteries that’s still a good idea, but many now use long-lasting lithium batteries that are good for five years or more. In those cases, check the smoke alarm regularly, but if it works fine, leave the battery alone.