Indiana did not move geographically, but certain business interests thought that by observing Eastern Time, they would gain an economic advantage. While there might have been some truth to this in the 1960s—the era of telephones, telegraphs, and broadcast television—it is definitely not true in today’s era of iPhones, high speed data networks, and Netflix. Modern technology has negated any convenience of commerce rationale for observing Eastern Time and several years of research and polling has not found any Indiana business that substantially benefits from it.4 In fact, Eastern Time has actually hindered commerce by forcing some businesses that rely on a Central Time schedule to move their operations out-of-state.5

Observing Eastern Time also has had adverse effects on Hoosiers’ health and quality of life. Indiana is the 7th most obese state in the US6 and a recent study has found that our later daylight is a contributing factor.7 July 4th fireworks can’t be held until 10 PM which is neither family nor community friendly.8 And less morning daylight in the winter means more schools delays, less instructional time, millions of dollars in lost productivity for parents and teachers, and a greater risk of accidents involving children waiting for buses in the dark.9

While individual counties can and already have made the change to Central Time, only the Governor or the General Assembly can make the change state-wide. Standardizing the use of Daylight Saving Time across the state in 2006 addressed only half of Indiana’s time problem. They need to complete the job by uniting Indiana under our original, geographic time zone.
Being two hours out of sync with nature is just too much.

Notes

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana#Early_history

2 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/geography.html

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana#1960s

4 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/2013/hct_petition_grievances.pdf

5 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/2015/Zimmer_Moving_to_Memphis.pdf

6 https://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/

7 https://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/04/morning-rays-keep-off-the-pounds.html

8 https://hoosiersforcentraltime.com/2014/2014_petition.pdf

9 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/chronotherapy/201401/indiana-where-it-s-always-later-you-think

A recent letter to the editor in the Herald-Times noted that even though New York City got 12 inches of snow one night, their schools were able to open the following day. If they could do it, why couldn’t we? Quoting: “Surely, we Hoosiers have as much get-up-and-go as any New Yorkers.”

The problem for Indiana isn’t lack of get-up-and-go, as much as lack of sunlight, and highlights a problem that Indiana has had for decades. Geographically, all of Indiana falls well within the borders of the Central Time Zone, but since most of Indiana observes Eastern Time, we are at a disadvantage when compared to other states that are in their correct time zones.

In New York, the sun rises about an hour before it does in Indiana. That extra hour of sunlight not only raises the air temperature, but is essential for road de-icing since many de-icing components require sunlight to work. Illinois provides another example.

As reported by the Central Time Coalition, Illinois had 19 school delays in the 2012–2013 academic year compared to Indiana’s 1,172. An extra hour of sunlight would reduce Indiana’s excessive numbers of 2-hour delays by one hour and could eliminate them altogether.

The Central Time Coalition is a grassroots organization that has been lobbying for Indiana to switch to its geographically correct time zone since 2009. For more information, visit hoosiersforcentraltime.com.