EDITORIAL: Daylight wasting time

So, how do you feel now that you’ve had a week to recover from America’s nightmare? No, not the looming reality of a Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton showdown for the presidency, but rather the semi-annual ritual of changing the clocks, in this instance to reflect daylight saving time.

Last Sunday, Nevada residents and those in most states across the country got to spring forward, losing a valuable hour of sleep. This despite the 2015 Nevada Legislature easily passing a resolution to put the state on daylight saving time year-round, thereby ending the need for this idiotic clock-changing and the fallout that ensues in the following days. But Nevada then needed its congressional delegation to pitch in, getting Congress to approve the resolution for it to take effect.

Obviously, that hasn’t happened yet. And if it doesn’t happen by the end of 2016, the resolution dies and would need to get through the Legislature again.

There are plenty of good reasons for our delegation to get moving. As reported last week by Polly Mosendz of Bloomberg Business, a 1996 University of British Columbia study found that the “expected risk of accidents” on the Monday after the spring time change rose 17 percent, based on data from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A 2014 University of Colorado study found the daylight saving time leap “increases fatal crash risk by 5.4 to 7.6 percent.”

University of Washington law professor Steve Calandrillo advocates for year-round daylight saving time, telling Ms. Mosendz that such a move would save 400 lives annually. “Darkness in the evening hours is much more deadly than in the morning hours — there are more drivers on the road and more children playing outdoors.”

Right now, nothing is really getting done in Washington, D.C. No tax or regulatory reform, no entitlements makeover, no fixing the Obamacare mess. Comparatively, permanent daylight saving time isn’t an important proposal. But it’s an easy one to take up and has bipartisan support. The Nevada Legislature should put more pressure on the state’s congressional delegation to drive this resolution through Congress this year. Give us back our sleep!