5 ms·

> there are no street lights in the entire city. Yikes. Street lighting is one of the most important safety improvements, especially for people walking, as mos

> there are no street lights in the entire city. Yikes. Street lighting is one of the most important safety improvements, especially for people walking, as most pedestrian deaths due to drivers occur at night. https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/provencountermeasures/lighting.cfm https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/provencountermeasures/lighting.c... Of course, if we weren't so dependent on cars to do literally everything this wouldn't be the case, and we could safely get rid of a lot of street lighting.

eastbound 4y ago
Similarly, the installation of public lightening by Colbert in the XVIIIth in Paris, lowered criminality by an order of magnitude. It also enabled women rights, since, with the ability to somewhat walk securely at night or in the early morning, comes the ability to go to the factory and work somewhere else than in the house.
- aziaziazi 4y ago
  Some studies found no evidence for an association between crime and switch off or part-night lighting [0] [0]https://jech.bmj.com/content/69/11/1118.short?g=w_jech_ahead_tab https://jech.bmj.com/content/69/11/1118.short?g=w_jech_ahead...
  - eastbound 4y ago
    We’ll need more and more of those studies as we switch off those lights to save energy. If it was possible to VC-fund them, that’s where I would put most if my money.
RobotToaster 4y ago
I appreciate how important it was in the past, but in the era of inexpensive and powerful LED flashlights, streetlights do seem rather redundant and wasteful.
- TSiege 4y ago
  Maybe in rural environments, but they're quite important in urban environments
  - worthless-trash 4y ago
    Do people in the US just walk in the middle of the road ?
    - jaggederest 4y ago
      The critical question is, do people in the US just drive on the sidewalks? (It's impossible to walk on sidewalks in a city without crossing streets every block, and that's where car/pedestrian conflicts occur)
      - michaelteter 4y ago
        > do people in the US just drive on the sidewalks? I think you must first ask, "What percentage of roads in the US have sidewalks?" It's nowhere close to 100%.
        worthless-trash 4y ago
        estimate for me, is it closer to 20, I really dont know.
      - SamPatt 4y ago
        I live in a small village in the US, pop. ~1,000. I'd guess that less than half the streets within village limits have sidewalks. And of course outside the village it's miles and miles of fields and forests with none. Urban life is very different from rural.
    - Xt-6 4y ago
      For that they first would need to walk ...
    - 4y ago
xjay 4y ago
These days we'd tap into the cell phone network/radio waves to track pedestrians. It's the modern safety reflector or high-visibility clothing. Are you not carrying your phone with you? Well, "it would be a shame if something happened to you."
op00to 4y ago
It’s LA, no one walks.
__MatrixMan__ 4y ago
Another approach is to have personal lighting. I regularly attend an event in one of the darker parts of Colorado where it's considered common courtesy to have a glowy something or other attached to you. There can be collisions even between pedestrians. Nobody gets hurt but it's awkward when it happens so you start to appreciate the extra cues.
_hcuq 4y ago
Flashlights? Reflectors? We don't need streetlights illuminating empty roads all night.
culi 4y ago
Street lights can also aggravate the problem of safety. Unfortunately most cities seem to believe that more lumens = more safety. But often times this creates more stark dark spots and makes it harder for our eyes to adjust to them What would really improve safety the most is having more, warmer, weaker lights. One city in the UK ended up taking down their streetlights after some attacks and replacing them with christmas lights strewn across some city trees. Not only did it look nicer, end up costing less, and was less damaging to the local ecosystem, but it also likely made the area much safer

eastbound 4y ago

Similarly, the installation of public lightening by Colbert in the XVIIIth in Paris, lowered criminality by an order of magnitude. It also enabled women rights, since, with the ability to somewhat walk securely at night or in the early morning, comes the ability to go to the factory and work somewhere else than in the house.

aziaziazi 4y ago
Some studies found no evidence for an association between crime and switch off or part-night lighting [0] [0]https://jech.bmj.com/content/69/11/1118.short?g=w_jech_ahead_tab https://jech.bmj.com/content/69/11/1118.short?g=w_jech_ahead...
- eastbound 4y ago
  We’ll need more and more of those studies as we switch off those lights to save energy. If it was possible to VC-fund them, that’s where I would put most if my money.

RobotToaster 4y ago

I appreciate how important it was in the past, but in the era of inexpensive and powerful LED flashlights, streetlights do seem rather redundant and wasteful.

TSiege 4y ago
Maybe in rural environments, but they're quite important in urban environments
- worthless-trash 4y ago
  Do people in the US just walk in the middle of the road ?
  - jaggederest 4y ago
    The critical question is, do people in the US just drive on the sidewalks? (It's impossible to walk on sidewalks in a city without crossing streets every block, and that's where car/pedestrian conflicts occur)
    - michaelteter 4y ago
      > do people in the US just drive on the sidewalks? I think you must first ask, "What percentage of roads in the US have sidewalks?" It's nowhere close to 100%.
      - worthless-trash 4y ago
        estimate for me, is it closer to 20, I really dont know.
    - SamPatt 4y ago
      I live in a small village in the US, pop. ~1,000. I'd guess that less than half the streets within village limits have sidewalks. And of course outside the village it's miles and miles of fields and forests with none. Urban life is very different from rural.
  - Xt-6 4y ago
    For that they first would need to walk ...
  - 4y ago

xjay 4y ago

These days we'd tap into the cell phone network/radio waves to track pedestrians. It's the modern safety reflector or high-visibility clothing. Are you not carrying your phone with you? Well, "it would be a shame if something happened to you."

op00to 4y ago

It’s LA, no one walks.

__MatrixMan__ 4y ago

Another approach is to have personal lighting. I regularly attend an event in one of the darker parts of Colorado where it's considered common courtesy to have a glowy something or other attached to you. There can be collisions even between pedestrians. Nobody gets hurt but it's awkward when it happens so you start to appreciate the extra cues.

_hcuq 4y ago

Flashlights? Reflectors? We don't need streetlights illuminating empty roads all night.

culi 4y ago

Street lights can also aggravate the problem of safety. Unfortunately most cities seem to believe that more lumens = more safety. But often times this creates more stark dark spots and makes it harder for our eyes to adjust to them What would really improve safety the most is having more, warmer, weaker lights. One city in the UK ended up taking down their streetlights after some attacks and replacing them with christmas lights strewn across some city trees. Not only did it look nicer, end up costing less, and was less damaging to the local ecosystem, but it also likely made the area much safer