White Street Lights

[AzimScot]

Anyone know if there plans to change the whole of Glasgow street lights to white? I read once about the change of lights in the Evening Times, but I think it was only a few main roads like Paisley Road West, which has now been fitted in.

Anyone know why street lights are amber? Any law or reason?

[BrigitDoon]

Anyone know why street lights are amber? Any law or reason?

They're sponsored by Irn Bru.

[Riotgrrl]

I've just had to drop something off at Aikenhead Road police station, and walked home (about a mile).

The current street lights we have in Glasgow are RUBBISH. It's very, very dark. I'm sure there are good reasons why we don't have proper bright street lights, but I would certainly feel safer and happier on the streets if I could SEE.

[OLDFART]

Anyone know why street lights are amber

old sodium lights were cheaper to run also delivered more light also had less glare for drivers. got bored & googled it :)

http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Documents/SO1 ... uction.htm

[Socceroo]

I understand that there is plans to have all the main Street Lamps in Glasgow changed over to the White SON Type.

If a developer or Housing Association is building new housing in Glasgow just now and one or two of the old Lamps need moved or replaced then often they are made to fit the new White ones not only to replace the ones that are affected but usually the whole street.

New Glasgow City Council policy - do not pay for it when you can get someone else to.

[Alex Glass]

Socceroo is almost right.

Some years ago it was announced that Glasgow City Council would be carrying out a rolling programme to replace all street lights. As this would take a lot of money it was decided that the main roads would be changed first on a staged programme.

Any developer carrying out a major development has always had a responsibility to construct or resurface roads and erect or replace lighting columns. These must be to a standard in order for them to be adopted for future maintenance. This is carried out under Roads Consent. As the Council had committed to changing the street lights to white lighting this is the standard that developers must put in place.

As far as I can remember the lights were changed from white to amber because of the smog that covered Glasgow and many other urban areas.I think this was done in the late 1960s early 70s. With the adoption of smoke free zones and the introduction of smokeless coal not forgetting the loss of all of Glasgow's heavy industry the air over Glasgow has improved since then and it is believed that reverting to white lighting is better given for the reasons already mentioned by Oldfart.

[Socceroo]

Alex, a lot of developments these days are held to ransom by Land Services. Not so much to do with the fact that the developers are carrying out major Projects impacting on existing Streets. More the case if you want Roads Construction Consent you have to do what Land Services want or it will not be signed off.

Getting Roads Construction Consent progressed in Glasgow is a standing joke between Contractors and Consulting Engineers just now. Usually we allow about a year to get it signed off. The commencement of many Projects have been delayed by this.

I have been involved in Projects where the developers have had to replace Street Lights hundreds of metres from the development. And when i say developers i mean Housing Associations. This is self defeating, given that the Council is the main funder for HA Projects in Glasgow at present. More spent on Street Lighting usually means less available for the finish / quality of the houses.

[Riotgrrl]

Is there any evidence that shows white street lights do make the streets safer, or is it purely my perception that people are safer when the lights are brighter?

Also, I've seen articles about 'light pollution' . . is that going to be an issue if Glasgow gets brighter lights?

[BrigitDoon]

I don't know for any evidence. Sodium vapour lamps emit light on two specific wavelengths close together in the orange part of the spectrum, so they show up objects that are yellow, orange and red the best. Blues and greens tend to be subdued. With white light I would expect people wearing blue or green clothing to be more visible to motorists and less like to be run over.

The are parts of the UK where they are installing lighting that cast downwards only so as to reduce the pollution in the night sky. Good news for astronomers.

[Josef]

I'd quite like proximity lighting, but given that it apparently increases the chances of those bloody motorists hitting pedestrians or each other by 30%, I suppose it's unlikely.

[MacotheIsles]

At some point in the long, distant past I was told that the longer wavelength of the orange/red light penetrated fog and smog better than white light thus improving visibility, although I always doubted this. To my eye there's a marked reduction in contrast between colours (see Brigitdoon's comments) which makes it far harder to pick out detail.

Anyway - I believe that many councils are switching off a proportion of their lamps to save money. I'm all for that although I can see both sides of the argument.

[BrigitDoon]

At some point in the long, distant past I was told that the longer wavelength of the orange/red light penetrated fog and smog better than white light...

Shorter wavelengths are scattered more by particles suspended in air than shorter wavelengths. This is why the sky is blue and sunsets are red.

[glasgowken]

I'd love to see white lights in my street, but it's so unimportant that's probably a good few years away

[penguinmonkey]

...Blues and greens tend to be subdued...

you may have stumbled onto the hidden reasoning behind the change to orange lights

[potatojunkie]

I'll miss the sodium lamps when they're gone. I'll miss watching them warm up from Alarming Pink through Brothel Lantern Red to Atomic Korma. I'll miss the ones that get stuck on pink. I expect people felt the same way about the old gas lamps when they started replacing them with this newfangled electricity.