Gasoline use up 2.8% since early time change

WASHINGTON

Some observers say the surge is linked to the earlier start for daylight-saving time, which began March 11 instead of the customary first Sunday in April.

“Daylight-saving simply pushes us out of our houses,” says Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time. Downing, a critic of daylight-saving time, argues that the extra hour of light at day’s end leads people to drive to places, such as golf courses, parks and shopping malls, that they otherwise wouldn’t.

“We simply know that when Americans go to the mall, they don’t walk,” he says.

USA Today