Slashdot Mirror
UK To Dim Highway Lights To Save Money
Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that street lights on thousands of miles of major roads in England will be dimmed during quiet periods to save money and reduce carbon emissions. The Highways Agency has already turned off the lights on more than 80 miles of the motorway network and will soon begin a survey of where this can be done on the 2,500 miles of A roads it controls. Nigel Parry, of the Institution of Lighting Professionals, says that technology enabled lights can be controlled individually and remotely. 'The idea is that when traffic is busy, such as during the morning and evening rush hour, you have them at their brightest. When the traffic disappears you can dim them. You can maintain safety and use half as much energy.'"
if this makes for less light pollution then even better.
now if we can get warehouses to shut off their lights at night even better - security my ass - have they not heard of IR / lowlight video cameras - that would help even more...
who where what when now?
Why wouldn't you turn the lights off during rush hour? More cars mean more car lights, which automatically illuminates substantial portions of the road, whereas during trough hours, there are few cars.
It would thus make more sense to not have lights during high traffic times.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
You're much more likely to notice that you forgot turning on your headlights if it's dark around.
bickerdyke
I doubt that highway lights are an actual safety improvement
I've done quite a bit of driving on UK motorways late at night and in bad weather and have to say I really appreciate the lit sections. Particularly in heavy traffic with fog, rain and snow it dramatically improves your visibility and I feel I can judge distances a lot better with them. I don't mind being on an empty unlit road at night, but a busy one (e.g. parts of the M62 on the north side of Manchester) can be pretty horrible.
I find that in the unlit sections the dazzle of the oncoming headlights is much worse. And if you have dipped beams to avoid dazzling them you are driving into darkness - you know on a motorway that the road is clear but it is psychologically stressful when you can't actually see the road ahead as far as your stopping distance.