Street Lighting Times

[mjr]

Has anyone else noticed that the street lights on Highways England's roads come on before the street lights on local council roads?

 

[Thursday guy]

I haven't noticed it, but I don't which roads come under highways england and which are under the local council

 

[mjr]

Highways England manage motorways and trunk roads (A11 and A47 in Norfolk, for example), whereas councils manage everything else. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/roads-managed-by-the-highways-agency

In cycling terms, in most of the country, council roads are the ones with crap cycling infrastructure and HE roads are the busier roads with even worse (such as sub-1m tracks, zero-radius corners and gutter lanes like https://goo.gl/maps/5VXec6dMRH12 )

 

[the_mikey]

Different sensors, also the threshold for each sensor is unlikely to be identical. Also some light circuits now employ 'smart' lighting technology that allows councils to remotely control when lights turn on and off.

 

[subaqua]

A lot of Highways England ones are newer and fitted with light sensors - a lot of the council ones are older and fitted with timers. For those with sensors, it'll also depend on the type of sensor fitted.

Shudders at the thought of the horrible set back timers used on lots of columns in Cheshire . Hated fault finding them as they had light sensors, a timer controlled by the light level and multiple lamps .

 

[Glow worm]

Different sensors, also the threshold for each sensor is unlikely to be identical. Also some light circuits now employ 'smart' lighting technology that allows councils to remotely control when lights turn on and off.

You are very lucky. I wish they'd do that here. Most of Cambridgeshire resembles Las Vegas at night - even the smallest of villages is stuffed with blindingly bright lights. It's a bit ridiculous really. Suffolk have a much more civilised approach to lighting, happily leaving many villages unlit. Perhaps there are fewer townies there moving to the countryside there then whingeing about the dark

 

[mjr]

So people aren't seeing a consistent difference? Here, Norfolk has been upgrading to the "blindingly bright" more-efficient LED lights for the last few years but the sensors/timers seem set to wait until lighting up time (if not slightly after), whereas the HE's A47 looks like it's still using the yellowy low-pressure sodium lights but they come on as soon as it starts getting dark.

 

[classic33]

Two roads, both local authority maintained. Thirty yards apart.
On one the lights come on later and go of upto three hours earlier.

Try riding somewhere that has no streetlighting.

 

[night cycler]

The sensor type lights are okish, but on my street in the summer they come on earlier and for longer than in winter due to the shade of the trees triggering switch on/off time.

 

[fossyant]

Exciting stuff. About to go and pluck my eyebrows ?

 

[the_mikey]

You are very lucky. I wish they'd do that here. Most of Cambridgeshire resembles Las Vegas at night - even the smallest of villages is stuffed with blindingly bright lights. It's a bit ridiculous really. Suffolk have a much more civilised approach to lighting, happily leaving many villages unlit. Perhaps there are fewer townies there moving to the countryside there then whingeing about the dark

Many french towns and villages have had a no lighting after midnight (10pm in some places) policy for decades, if not longer...

 

[PeteXXX]

The council here in Northampton turned most of the street lighting off a few years ago to save money.

 

[robjh]

You are very lucky. I wish they'd do that here. Most of Cambridgeshire resembles Las Vegas at night - even the smallest of villages is stuffed with blindingly bright lights.

Agreed. We recently suffered an upgrade to stupidly bright, coupled with new lampposts that are several feet taller and now blast their light straight into bedroom windows. The company responsible will at least add inadequate 'baffles' to the lights which reduce if not eliminate the intrusion, but the situation is still worse than before. Some lucky side streets near us have no lighting, and I am not aware of any greater safety issue there.

 

[Glow worm]

Agreed. We recently suffered an upgrade to stupidly bright, coupled with new lampposts that are several feet taller and now blast their light straight into bedroom windows. The company responsible will at least add inadequate 'baffles' to the lights which reduce if not eliminate the intrusion, but the situation is still worse than before. Some lucky side streets near us have no lighting, and I not aware of any greater safety issue there.

I discovered that with a bit of elbow grease, a good shake of the column, would often switch off a lot of the old lights. That's sadly not the case with these new efforts. I'm fast coming to the conclusion that the only solution is a decent airgun!

 

[mjr]

I discovered that with a bit of elbow grease, a good shake of the column, would often switch off a lot of the old lights. That's sadly not the case with these new efforts. I'm fast coming to the conclusion that the only solution is a decent airgun!

You could always get blackouts to go between your curtains and the glass, instead. Probably similar price and less chance of a criminal damage charge

My bedroom faces east so I already had blackouts to stop the summer morning sun waking me at stupid o'clock... the new streetlights did make me adjust them slightly to leave absolutely no gaps. So there you go: they're brighter than the sun