[thedoc (OP)]

Research implies street lights can come off with no increase
in crimes
or crashes.
Read a transcript of the interview by clicking here

or [chapter podcast=1001125 track=15.08.04/Naked_Scientists_Show_15.08.04_1003956.mp3] Listen to it now[/chapter] or [download as MP3]

[zahidahsaleema]

street lights really keep us safe spam provides subsidized rates to individuals and community groups working to provide safe, sustainable lighting to those in need

[Hayseed]

Absolutely. Light frames and constrains thought and behavior.  And thought and behavior are getting worse.  Even our rural houses and farms now put up pole night lights.

We could sensor control them, which would be even more effective.  One could watch them coming and going.

[alancalverd]

When the council installed lights on a rural bus lane adjacent to my house, it became the meeting point for drug dealers, prostitutes and drunken teenagers. So they switched the lights off.

In fog, roadside lights seriously reduce vehicle conspicuity by adding nearby bright scattered radiation to what little signal penetrates from the distant vehicles' lights. They do however make life easier for the fire and ambulance crews once all the traffic has collided and come to a halt.

Even traffic lights can be counterintuitive. I worked in a laboratory whose gates were about a mile from a crossroad junction. If the lights were working, there would be a tailback past the gates at 5.30 every night and an accident about once a week when two cars moved on a yellow light. If the lights weren't working (which was about 30% of the time!) the traffic flowed smoothly because people used their brains to filter through the junction.

[syhprum]

I used to notice that when traffic signals failed and the control of the traffic was taken over by a police officer the traffic moved much more slowly because drivers were much more scared of the police and did not use their common sense in relation to the traffic lights.
Unfortunately all the traffic signals are now supplemented by TV cameras and traffic moves slower than ever.
 

[EuniceSmith]

I don't know how much they protect, but I'm afraid of the dark, so it's good for me when it's light and everything is visible
when I watch a lot of horror movies, it's very scary to be in the dark
even sleeping with a lamp lol

[alancalverd]

One of the oldest jokes is

"Doctor, it hurts when I do this"

"Then stop doing it."

[charles1948]

I don't know how much they protect, but I'm afraid of the dark, so it's good for me when it's light and everything is visible

Yes, you've hit the essential point.  We like light.  We don't feel safe in the dark.  But In past ages, the dark was hard to get rid of.  Because we only had feeble sources of light.  Like candles, or oil-lamps.  These weren't enough to fully dispel the dark.  Even the gas-lighting invented in the 19th century, was a bit dim.  Not very satisfactory.

Full satisfaction was achieved only when we invented electric light. This provided brilliant illumination. It fulfilled our heart's desire.

And that's why our modern towns, and cities, and roads, are absolutely festooned with myriads of electric lights.

Not for any mere utilitarian purpose.  But because we like the light.