A bright idea or a shadow of doubt?
M1 street light switch off sparks concern for road safety
The current trend for street light switch-off schemes continues as The Highways Agency unveiled its plans to deactivate lights on the M1 between junction 10 at Luton and junction 13 at Milton Keynes from the hours of midnight to 5:00am.
Streetlight switch-off schemes are part of an overall agenda to cut costs and carbon emissions, implemented by the Department of Transport as its contribution to the Government’s austerity programme.
Although whilst the government focus on economic expenses, the expense of road safety has been met with controversy.
And in light of the proposal to switch off the 15-mile stretch of the M1, doubts over the impending darkness are becoming even more frequent.
Andrew Howard, the AA’s head of road safety voiced his own lack of confidence:
‘Where you can and can’t be is defined by signals and without lights there is a greater chance that people will make a mistake’
The road safety charity Brake is in agreement. A spokesperson for the charity commented:
‘When crashes do happen on these roads they are much more likely to involve multiple deaths and serious injuries because of the high speeds involved’
Whilst the M1 switch off may be the no.1 concern at present, it’s certainly not the first of its kind. The Department for Transport have tested the schemes on various stretches of the M2, M4, M5 AND M27. And most importantly, they’ve done it with success.
Granted, it’s a triumph but there’s still wide-spread caution which needs to be addressed. Which is why many councils have chosen to compromise by adopting additional safety methods. One of these methods is to install dimmer lights. A less drastic measure, but still signifying willingness to change, whilst appeasing the public.
Another method is to install additional road safety methods such as Astucia SolarLite road studs to deliver a clearer view of the road ahead by delineation.
These innovative, sustainable studs provide 10 x greater visibility than conventional cats eyes, charge and activate entirely on natural sunlight and have already been deployed with great success including an installation on the M25 where there was previously no street lighting whatsoever.
Buckinghamshire County Council was also keen to deploy thousands of streams of SolarLite road studs alongside additional safety measures at selected rural and semi-rural locations.
To find out more about Astucia SolarLite road studs, click onto www.astucia.co.uk or read the entire article about the M1 street light switch-off here: