Originally Posted by
cyccommute
No, it does not "get dark at 4 p.m." after daylight saving time ends. No where in the lower 48 states does the sun set that early. At the 49th parallel which is US/Canadian border, the earliest sunset is at 4:28 p.m. around December 5th. Anywhere south of there has later sunset. New York City's sunset on that date is at 4:29 p.m. That's not "4 p.m."
On the other hand, at the latest sunrise on January 5, the sun wouldn't rise until 8.20 a.m. under year around DST. We've tried this before and it was awful. It is dark enough in the winter without having to get to work 20 minutes before the sun rises. And, an hour earlier is an hour colder. If it is brutally cold in the morning at sunrise, it feels a whole lot worse an hour earlier.
And, frankly, I'd rather deal with lights and traffic at night than deal with sleep deprived people in the morning. You still have to ride in to work.
Well, I looked it up, out here on the east coast to be exact it gets dark at its earliest at 4:11pm. You will have to forgive me for the rounding for the 11 minutes.
4:11pm! Wow, that's early. That means it will be dark when work gets out at 5pm
And by the way, that's if it's a sunny day. It will seem to be darker sooner than that on a cloudy day.