Source

State Archives of Florida, Series S125

Description

A letter from Tracey Lawrence, a five year old girl, with the help of her parents, to Governor Askew expressing concern about the safety of school children under Daylight Saving Time, dated January 27, 1974. The part written by Tracey is done in crayon.

Date

1974-01-27

Creator

Lawrence, Tracey

Format

Letters (correspondence)

Coverage

Late 20th-Century Florida (1968-2000)

Topic

Politics and Government

Subjects

Askew, Reubin O'Donovan, 1928-2014
Daylight saving
Florida. Governor (1971-1979 : Askew)
School children--Transportation--Safety measures

Geographic Term

Tallahassee
Leon County

General Note

In 1973, the United States was facing energy shortages and developed a variety of approaches to conserve energy as a result, including the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973. This legislation established a trial period of year-round Daylight Saving Time (DST) from January 6, 1974 to April 27, 1975. The hope was that an extra hour of daylight in the evening would reduce energy consumption, especially the use of electricity.
In Florida, the change to year-round DST came with serious consequences. In the first few weeks after the time change was enacted, several school-aged children were injured in traffic accidents in the dark mornings on their way to school.
In response to these accidents, there was an outpouring of citizen correspondence to Governor Askew expressing their opinions on year-round DST and whether or not Florida should move to counteract the Federal mandate within the state.
On January 29th, 1974, the Florida Legislature met for a special session to discuss DST. At the end of this session, no legislation was passed, and Florida continued to comply with the year-round Daylight Saving Time that President Nixon established.
In 2018, the Florida Legislature passed the “Sunshine Protection Act” (HB1013/SB858), stating that Florida will enact a year-round DST, provided that the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 is amended to permit states to do so.