The main drawback to pushing the clock forward permanently was the prolonged early-morning darkness in the winter, which left children heading to school when it was “jet black” outside, as a parent told the Washington Post’s Barbara Bright-Sagnier at the time. Writing for Washingtonian, Andrew Beaujon notes that eight students in Florida died in traffic accidents in the weeks following the change; in the nation’s capital and its surrounding suburbs, similar incidents led some schools to delay classes until the sun came up.

In October 1975, President Gerald Ford signed legislation reversing permanent daylight saving time. Though approval of the initiative had increased during the long summer days, the prospect of another long, dark—and potentially deadly—winter led lawmakers to end the planned two-year experiment early. As a Senate committee report stated, the “majority of the public” had expressed “distaste” for DST in the wintertime. Compounding the seeming failure of the experiment was the fact that the change, according to the Department of Transportation, saved little energy and may have actually caused an uptick in gasoline consumption.