The effect of reduced street lighting on road casualties and crime in England and Wales: controlled interrupted time series analysis

Abstract

BackgroundMany local authorities in England and Wales have reduced street lighting at night to save money and reduce carbon emissions. There is no evidence to date on whether these reductions impact on public health. We quantified the effect of 4 street lighting adaptation strategies (switch off, part-night lighting, dimming and white light) on casualties and crime in England and Wales.MethodsObservational study based on analysis of geographically coded police data on road traffic collisions and crime in 62 local authorities. Conditional Poisson models were used to analyse longitudinal changes in the counts of night-time collisions occurring on affected roads during 2000–2013, and crime within census Middle Super Output Areas during 2010–2013. Effect estimates were adjusted for regional temporal trends in casualties and crime.ResultsThere was no evidence that any street lighting adaptation strategy was associated with a change in collisions at night. There was significant statistical heterogeneity in the effects on crime estimated at police force level. Overall, there was no evidence for an association between the aggregate count of crime and switch off (RR 0.11; 95% CI 0.01 to 2.75) or part-night lighting (RR 0.96; 95% CI 0.86 to 1.06). There was weak evidence for a reduction in the aggregate count of crime and dimming (RR 0.84; 95% CI 0.70 to 1.02) and white light (RR 0.89; 95% CI 0.77 to 1.03).ConclusionsThis study found little evidence of harmful effects of switch off, part-night lighting, dimming, or changes to white light/LEDs on road collisions or crime in England and Wales.

Effects of new urban motorway infrastructure on road traffic accidents in the local area: a retrospective longitudinal study in Scotland

“…STATS19 provides routinely collected data about all RTAs in the UK which have resulted in a casualty and have been reported to the police 13. Detailed data are provided about each accident including date, casualty severity and location (precise coordinates).…”

Changes in outdoor lighting in Germany from 2012-2016

“…Steinbach et al examined the lighting practices of 62 local authorities in England and Wales, and found that part night lighting had little to no impact on rates of traffic accident or crime (in fact, there was weak evidence for decreases in crime in areas that switched lights off) [12]. Perhaps the lighting needs of smaller German communities could be met through a combination of reflective elements for traffic direction, and way-finding lighting for pedestrians.…”

Why Lighting Claims Might Well Be Wrong

“…The LANTERNS project [2] has its required protocol available on the website of its funder, the National Institute of Health Research, Public Health Research, See [20]. The full report of the project, Perkins et al [21], is available there for examination also.…”

“…My critical comments on the other hand said that nothing could be claimed because the review was inherently seriously flawed. Perhaps the points made there explain why the 'LANTERNS project' to determine the effect of reduced street lighting on road casualties and crime in England and Wales, found no detriment from implementing road lighting reductions despite involving a large dataset from 62 local authorities [2].…”