New Street lights.... nightmare
Discussion
Or should that be 'daymare'?
Our local council have kindly just fitted new street lights. Instead of the warm orange lights we've been used to all our lives, they now have bright white lamps. And when I say bright, I mean BRIGHT. Probably in the region of 4 or 5 times brighter.
I'm really pished off about this. There was enough light poliution at night before, but now its horrendous. Sitting in the garden last night after dark, watching the stars was impossible.
I could have read a book by the light being cast into the garden by the streetlights. Its also time to buy new, thicker curtains, as the bedrooms are now lit up by these lights.
So the question is, why? THeres been plenty of light on our road for the last 40 years, no one has died due to the old street lighting, no one has been demanding it be replaced. So why all this expence for something no one asked for? And why does the street need so much light? All night?
I'm sure they'll probably say the ligths are '100% more efficient' or something, but if thats the case then they should have fitted 50% less!
Even the flippin birds are singing all nigt now.
I'm seriously pissed off by this. The lights are almost as bright as those hallogen lights people use to illumnate their back gardens to 'frighten off burglars'.
Our local council have kindly just fitted new street lights. Instead of the warm orange lights we've been used to all our lives, they now have bright white lamps. And when I say bright, I mean BRIGHT. Probably in the region of 4 or 5 times brighter.
I'm really pished off about this. There was enough light poliution at night before, but now its horrendous. Sitting in the garden last night after dark, watching the stars was impossible.
I could have read a book by the light being cast into the garden by the streetlights. Its also time to buy new, thicker curtains, as the bedrooms are now lit up by these lights.
So the question is, why? THeres been plenty of light on our road for the last 40 years, no one has died due to the old street lighting, no one has been demanding it be replaced. So why all this expence for something no one asked for? And why does the street need so much light? All night?
I'm sure they'll probably say the ligths are '100% more efficient' or something, but if thats the case then they should have fitted 50% less!
Even the flippin birds are singing all nigt now.
I'm seriously pissed off by this. The lights are almost as bright as those hallogen lights people use to illumnate their back gardens to 'frighten off burglars'.
They're far more efficient then the old high pressure sodium lamps (the orange ones), and last around 10x longer too. I've driven down streets lit by them and was amazed by how good they actually are. It sounds like living with them outside your house is another matter though, the irony being that one of their supposed benefits is low light pollution - I'm guessing this is from above not from your house though!
My village in the middle of nowhere has no footpaths, no one ever walks through it and especially not at night.
However, there is one lone street lamp outside my house that kills any possibility of serious dark sky watching. Very annoying!
I think all these things should be on proximity sensors unless it is genuinely in a (very) built up area, i find it a great shame to be honest how every local authority seeks to bathe suburban and rural areas in totally unnecessary light.
However, there is one lone street lamp outside my house that kills any possibility of serious dark sky watching. Very annoying!
I think all these things should be on proximity sensors unless it is genuinely in a (very) built up area, i find it a great shame to be honest how every local authority seeks to bathe suburban and rural areas in totally unnecessary light.
XVar said:
They're far more efficient then the old high pressure sodium lamps (the orange ones), and last around 10x longer too. I've driven down streets lit by them and was amazed by how good they actually are. It sounds like living with them outside your house is another matter though, the irony being that one of their supposed benefits is low light pollution - I'm guessing this is from above not from your house though!
White light sources inherently have lower efficacy than the previous orange (SOX) lamps with the possible exception of LEDs. It's therefore likely the new lights will use more energy than the previous installation.Standards have changed over the years and the orange lights are no longer compliant with the current British Standard for road lighting. You are not able to discern colours at all under SOX lamps and facial recognition is more difficult to determine friend from foe.
Local authorities take standard compliance seriously and it may be the current BS requires a higher lighting level than those of 40 years ago for the OP's particular road. Coroners have also become aware of night time lighting level requirements and LA's & designers really don't want to be dragged through the courts.Part of the claim culture we live in.
Um. I noticed these new street lights but I also noticed it's darker late at night. I wonder if our LA decided that it would be better to dim them after a certain time? Not sure how good this is for general home security but I've not noticed any difference in how bright my bedroom is at night.
XVar said:
They're far more efficient then the old high pressure sodium lamps (the orange ones), and last around 10x longer too. I've driven down streets lit by them and was amazed by how good they actually are.
The route I cycle is entirely lit with the old orange lamps, except one road with the new white ones. The difference is just amazing, I can't help but be taken aback by how much better that one road is. Then it's back into the grimy orange fog. My local council fitted some of these on the NSL A roads in the area, they are far, far brighter than necessary and while they don't annoy residents (yet) as they are all outside town, I don't believe they make the roads any safer. The light is so intense that when coupled with other cars coming towards you with those fancy bright white dipped beams that it can white-out parts of the road ahead. Having no contrast due to the intense white light covering everything is imo worse than the old orange lights.
Corsair7 said:
Instead of the warm orange lights we've been used to all our lives,
You're obviously not that old as I remember when they went from white to orange and everyone complained that they didn't give off enough light.Corsair7 said:
they now have bright white lamps. And when I say bright, I mean BRIGHT. Probably in the region of 4 or 5 times brighter.
Good aren't they?You can actually see where you're going at night now.
We've got orange street lights on our road. They look nice, particularly in the fog, rain or snow, but when it comes to lighting your way they don't actually do a fantastic job.
A more pressing street lighting problem, I think, is the trend for new green traffic lights to be massively brighter than necessary, making it harder at pub kicking-out time (when it is usually dark) to spot drunk people hanging around waiting to throw themselves into the path of your car. Not sure whether this is a misguided safety feature, introduced by somebody that doesn't drive much themselves, or whether the new lights are just hugely better at turning electricity into light rather than heat.
A more pressing street lighting problem, I think, is the trend for new green traffic lights to be massively brighter than necessary, making it harder at pub kicking-out time (when it is usually dark) to spot drunk people hanging around waiting to throw themselves into the path of your car. Not sure whether this is a misguided safety feature, introduced by somebody that doesn't drive much themselves, or whether the new lights are just hugely better at turning electricity into light rather than heat.
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