[tz] Politics of TZ changes

[Paul Eggert]

On 05/13/2014 10:49 AM, Steve Allen wrote:
> the line "Planes will crash" becomes pitted against the lack of evidence that has ever happened.

I would guess that air safety issues concerning daylight saving time are 
more about the transitions than about when the transition rules change. 
Although it was long assumed that people readily compensate for DST 
transitions, more recent research suggests that sleep loss persists for 
several days, and that this can increase automobile accident rates. As 
far as I know, DST's effect on air safety has never been studied; one 
might presume it's smaller than in automobile safety since pilots need 
to adjust to time zone changes anyway, but DST also affects ground crews 
who don't move that much.

For a recent review of sleep-related concerns, please see:

Harrison Y. The impact of daylight saving time on sleep and related 
behaviours. Sleep Med Rev. 2013 Aug;17(4):285–92. 
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2012.10.001