Shadowless Lights Urged for Roads In British Towns

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 10, 13 January 1936, Page 5

Shadowless Lights Urged for Roads In British Towns

LONDON,

A call to scrap all out-of-date lighting systems along tho traffic routes tiirough tnc towns of Britain, replacing them with modern “shadowlcss” lighting, has been mado here. The Departmental Committee on Street Ligating, in its interim report, urges that street, lighting on all traffic roads should be so bright that drivers could proceed at BO miles an hour without. once needing to use headlights. It is pointed out that at present on many town roads the street lamps divide the night into pools of light and pools of darkness. To penetrate the shadows drivers must use headlights, which, in turn, inconvenience drivers coming Ironi the opposite direction. Financial Help for Towns.

In its report the committee suggest;: that the cost of lighting roads should be aided by. grants from national funds, enabling local authorities to make main roads safe for night driving without unnecessary delay. The committee also envisages the possibility of a complete overhaul of town lighting in all streets, It is suggested that there should bo easy graduation from the standard of lighting adopted for main traffic routes to that used in sn'i streets and secondary roads. Regarding systems of lighting the report points out that design of lighting installations must have regard to the nature of the materials available for road surfacing and surface dressing. The colour of road surfaces varies greatly, ranging from white to deep black, and ligating systems which are effective on one surface sometimes cause glare from others. Lack of Unified Control.

The committee comments upon present lack of. unified control of Highway lighting systems, pointing out that along one main highway loading from Loudon five authorities control the lighting of four miles of the route, ana the lamp standards vary in height lion. iO feet to 22 feet, while the distance between lamps varies from 15 j r ards to 130 yards. The standard of lighting is described as ranging from ‘ ‘ excellent ” to “ bad.' i’he cost of providing and maintaining a good standard is estimated at from £3UO to £IOO per mile a year. In London many motorists have been complaining of the lighting systems on some roads for a considerable time and newspapers have at times sent special correspondents on night driving tours to rep "t the actual state of affairs. Research in Colour.

One of the most effective systems in use, to be found on several arterial roads near London, consists of a series of specially constructed lamps fixed at a height of about 30 feet in tho centre

of the roadway, hung from wires. These lumps give a bright biue-green light The only complaint about , these lights is that tho biue-green tinge givc3 an uupleasant effect. Research workers of lighting companies are declared to be considering; possible methods of toning dowii tho < curious shade of blue-green without obtaining the glare which comes from a bright white light. The blue-greeu light does not, it seems, accentuate tha darkness of tho night outside the range of its light so much as does a yhitc light-