STREET LIGHTING REDUCES NIGHT TIME ACCIDENTS

In order to save electricity during the winter of 1973-74 most highway authorities reduced the level of street lighting by 50 per cent. However three boroughs in the greater London area chose not to make these reductions, enabling a comparison of accidents to be made between lit and unlit boroughs. The comparison is not straightforward because all boroughs were forced to make 50 per cent cuts on trunk and metropolitan roads. The evidence suggests that there was an increase in after-dark accidents but the traffic conditions were unusual and direct comparison of fully lit roads with those only partly lit showed that the difference was not significant. When all roads were considered, there were significant increases in the proportion of pedestrian accidents and fatal accidents occurring in the dark. Accidents on major roads appear to have been worse affected by the lighting cuts. The observations of this study do not prove that street lighting cuts changed the accident pattern, but they do conform with intuitive expectations and may help authorities to minimise additional accident risks when considering cuts. /TRRL/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0263788X
• Corporate Authors:

  Municipal Engineering Publications, Limited

  178-202 Portland Street
  London W1N 6NH,   England 
• Authors:
  • Talbot, M
• Publication Date: 1975-9-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 1737-39
• Serial:
  • Municipal Engineering
  • Volume: 152
  • Issue Number: 37
  • Publisher: Municipal Engineering Publications, Limited
  • ISSN: 0263-788X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arterial highways; Crash rates; Energy; Fatalities; Highway safety; Night; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Pedestrians; Reduction (Chemistry); Street lighting; Urban areas
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• Old TRIS Terms: Reduction
• ITRD Terms: 1612: Accident rate; 1602: Fatality; 545: Lighting (street); 2748: Main road; 9052: Night; 1733: Pedestrian; 8119: United Kingdom; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00132222
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 23 1976 12:00AM