{
  "id": 17078234,
  "title": "Permanent daylight saving time could add at least two billion dark school commutes across US",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/permanent-daylight-saving-time-could-add-at-least-two-billion-dark",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-29T15:00:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-permanent-daylight-billion-dark-school.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A proposed bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States, eliminating the twice-yearly switch between standard time and DST. This would result in darker mornings for school commutes from November to March, affecting an estimated 2 billion U.S. school trips. Researchers from the University of Washington calculated this impact for 14 of the 19 states that have preapproved the change. They found that Washington would see nearly 35 million more dark school commutes, while Georgia would have 71 million more. Extrapolating these results to the entire country, the study estimates at least 2 billion additional dark commutes. The researchers also noted that fatal crashes involving school-age pedestrians were roughly twice as likely during dark mornings compared to after sunrise. This \"Sunshine Protection Act\" would deprive children of morning light, which is crucial for regulating their circadian clocks and overall health.",
  "summary": "The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this past summer that would make daylight saving time (DST) permanent in the United States—meaning there would be no turning back the clocks each fall. Nineteen states, including Washington, have already preapproved this change. If the bill is ultimately signed into law, the change would go into effect in those states.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Phys.org",
        "title": "Brighter evenings, darker school mornings: Permanent daylight saving time could put children's safety at risk",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/brighter-evenings-darker-school-mornings-permanent-daylight-saving",
        "published": "2026-10-29T15:00:02.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}