"Indiana or Michigan time?"

I live on the western edge of the Eastern Standard Time zone. That means that I live on the same time as those who live in New York City. When it is 1pm in NYC, it is 1pm here in southwest Michigan. However, in real time and with economic considerations, I live much closer to the city of Chicago which lies in the Central Standard Time zone. Confused yet?

Well, since Michigan stays with EST, our sense of time is always in sync with the national broadcasts coming out of the eastern seaboard. But Indiana? That’s where things get tricky. The city of South Bend is the broadcasting center for our region. So our television and radio broadcasts transmit a time that may or may not be true for half of their listeners. For half of the year (winter), Michigan and Indiana are on the same time. Then in summer, Indiana decides not to use Daylight Savings Time.* That effectively switches them to CST.

Maybe this map will help:

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South Bend is in the county of St. Joseph which is colored green. All the green counties are in the Eastern Time zone but they don’t use Daylight Savings which all standard time zones uses. So they switch between Eastern and Central. The yellow counties always stay with Central. Remember when I mentioned the economic ties that my area has to Chicago? Well that is the reason why those north western counties in Indiana are yellow. They sit next to the Windy City. The tricky part is always having to be aware of where you are and what time zone the area you are in is using.

Now I get to the part of why I brought this up. Indiana has a bill that would implement Daylight Savings time. All those green counties in the map would now “spring” forward or “fall” back with the rest of the country. The problem with this bill however, is that it like the current situation, is confusing as hell. There are a few questions that have to be answered. 1.) Is Indiana going to join the Eastern Standard Time zone or will they moved to the Central Standard Time zone? 2.) Are all the counties in the state going to move to a single time zone and not be split up like they are currently? 3.) If the counties are not going to be consolidated into one time zone, how are exemptions going to be made for counties that prefer EST or CST?

According to a poll made around here in Michiana, most want to join Central, even though Indiana firmly sits within the Eastern zone. Economically, it makes sense for the state to go with Central. Geographically, it makes sense for the state to go with Eastern. Preferably, I would rather see it go with Eastern. I just think that it would be easier to sync up with New York and Washington, that way when you hear about the national time, you never have to do mental math (even if you are only subtracting one hour.) I hate math.

*In all the Standard Time zones, people “spring” forward or “fall” back one hour. Clocks are moved forward one hour during the spring then they are moved back one hour during the fall.