Daylight Savings Time officially ends next Sunday, November 4th at 2 a.m. The origins of Daylight Savings Time (DST) are tough to track down. It's the stuff urban legends are made of, but suffice it to say, the arguments pro and con have been going on for over a hundred years. The U.S (with the exception of Arizona, Hawaii and I have no idea about Indiana, click here) will end DST this weekend. That will make it the time it's supposed to be based on lines of longitude and Greenwich Mean Time.
DST gives us more evening light and supposedly reduces our electricity consumption a considerable amount. However, that last point has been debated and some experts found that no significant reduction was achieved. I'm sure the debates will continue for years to come.
The current Hours of Service (HOS) regulations don't leave truck drivers a lot of flexibility in their schedules. I prefer to drive in daylight hours and sleep at night. I've worked every shift in the book and found that joining the majority of motorists in the day is best for me. I prefer the traffic levels at 2 am, but want the sun's rays of 2 pm, but unfortunately that's not possible.
As winter arrives, our daylight hours will shrink from a summertime average of 14 to around 10. That means that drivers like me who prefer to drive in daylight will have to drive in the dark more. Certain oversized loads can only be moved during daylight hours so they will have a shorter span to move their loads. I will adjust my schedule by getting up a little earlier to use every possible daylight hour. At the end of the typical business day (5pm) shipping and receiving is wrapping up for the most part and the truck stops will soon start to fill up. Finding parking is a challenge in many places already and will get harder as the days get shorter.