Exciting Update on Street Lighting Story

A few weeks ago, we reported about the increase in sensor technologies in our cities, especially within street lights. The idea being proposed was to reduce street lighting to save taxpayer money, energy and the environment. However, many people held concerns over the reduction, saying that there would be an increased risk of crime and road accidents due to insufficient lighting.

However, today we have an update, as this morning a study led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, along with University College London, has found that a decrease in street lighting at night does not lead to an increase in crime or traffic accidents.

The researches studied 14 years worth of data from 62 councils with street lighting strategies such as permanent switch off, or dimmers, already in place. For the crime data, they looked at the years 2010 to 2013, and for the traffic accidents, they took data from 2000 to 2013. They then looked at the type of street lighting in place, and the results showed little to no evidence of a correlation between the factors.

However, as a precaution the AA has advised members to drive using their full beams in places where the street lights have been switched off, unless they might dazzle other drivers. Also, others have suggested caution while transitioning between current street lighting and new strategies.

Despite these warnings, this result is really encouraging for the implementation of new street lighting schemes across the country, including the use of dimmable LED lights, especially if people were concerned about no street lighting at all. The money saved then could be put into other resources, such as social care, and maintenance issues such as potholes. This could also hopefully foster more investigation into the smart cities initiatives, such as internet in LEDs, putting Britain on the cutting edge of this research.

Read our previous story here: Led and sensors, the future of our cities

BBC Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33692675

The Report: http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2015/07/08/jech-2015-206012.short?q=w_jech_ahead_sidetab