Street lights... anything we can do?

[laser_jock99]

It's probably illegal ..but I must admit I have tried it !(unsucessfully !)

But you may be interested in this....

...enjoy!

Done this with HeNe lasers in the past - trouble is the source of the red or green beam is too obvious. You need to be a bit sneaky and use an infra red laser.....

808nm 1000mw 1W burning IR laser diode. USA 3 day ship on eBay (end time 09-Mar-10 09:16:14 GMT)

[Brendan of Borg]

Anyone see the BBC news today concerning Epson and the new dimming street lights?

Wonder if they would work for us?

[PeterW]

I used 'fixmystreet.com' to report two lights in a council carpark shining on my communal garden. It took a few 'polite reminders', which ended up with the council lighting boss emailing the lighting contractor directly.... but success, one extra shield and a new shielded head on the other light. I still have direct dazzle from a light on the other side of the carpark, but some garden canes and sheets of black plastic from an art shop should put pay to them.

Be polite, keep at it! After 10pm there almost never ever any cars in the carpark, so turning the lights out after 11/12pm would be sensible, but I would wager that it'll not happen.

Good luck

PEterW

[Brendan of Borg]

Result Peter! Have already made a phone call to the relevant peeps yesterday so, have to wait for now. Cheers for the web link so will check it out! here's hoping!!

[nicnac]

i still like the idea of the shade that can be put on the generic street light design that effectively turns them into focused down lighters, no light goes up, no light emits across the horizontal, it gives a focused light cone.

the idea is much cheaper than fabricating and equiping new bulbs

[Brandon]

bee bee gun

[johnkirkpatrick]

I have the same prob lol. was thinking about smashing them with a brick!!!

But the bee bee gun would work too Brandon lol

I have two of the sort of yellow orange ones on the concrete pillars both only 10meters apart eh

[Brendan of Borg]

Seems to be that if residential lighting had a generic pattern of 'down-lighting' for the road/pavement only, that lots of issues could be easily erased! Any Street Light Developers out there?!

[nicnac]

all they will say is that it is not cost effective.

they will most likely say that there would be a security issue also. i would argue that a mute point in residential areas though as the street lights in those areas are quite close together.

this close to the election, if any party commited themselves to combating light pollution in there respective constituancies, would get my vote.

[nicnac]

i wonder what the penalty would be if cought modding a street light with a downlighter of ones own design?

[astrokat]

i went to halford and brought red spray paint and took our work ladder out at 3 in the morning and sprayed 6 to the left and the same for the right though made little diffrence i also go up our local woods cuttting trees down that get in the way of my observing though im sure its agaist the law

[orionhunter]

a black bin bag works wonders too.

[nicnac]

dont suppose there are any MPs using this forum?

[nicnac]

just looked at my council website, they have one paragraph relating to light pollution.

it said street lights provide light for the walkways and roads, CCTV and other security measures require lighting.

That is rubbish.

for quite some time now CCTV cams have come with IR illuminators, negating the need for our "beloved" skywashing streetlights.

im getting quite passionate about this now, i wonder just how far i can take it

[Marmite]

...enjoy!

All I can say about that video is "thank dog for the mute button".

[Marmite]

just looked at my council website, they have one paragraph relating to light pollution.

it said street lights provide light for the walkways and roads, CCTV and other security measures require lighting.

That is rubbish.

for quite some time now CCTV cams have come with IR illuminators, negating the need for our "beloved" skywashing streetlights.

im getting quite passionate about this now, i wonder just how far i can take it

A few astronomers and environmentalists: "Light Pollution is bad!"

The rest of the world: "Lights mean progress which means profits!"

We're never going to win this one. Sorry.

[Brendan of Borg]

I think that we can win small battles if we go about it the right way! Yes I am still awaiting a response from those who can but.. the ball is rolling!

[Tiny]

This morning at 2am the seeing was amazing. Stars upon stars up there and so clear. We live in the country so would hope for good seeing BUT. All round the horizon, up to 30 degrees in places, it was like dawn with the lights in local villages and on road 'danger spots'. We have watched the lights get worse and worse over the last many years.

The police don't help as they have a campagn going which (mis) informs that lights on outside makes thieves go elsewhere. (They do - most thieves operate in villages and country round us in the daylight as in our lightless area they get lost at night.) The police also push lights for road problems allowing safe speed as calming measures mean the police might be held responsible if people ignore the limits.

Meanwhile our councils love lights - they show the worriers they care about them by doing as the police suggest and they are a cheap option to win votes.

Interestingly last year some councils (to save money) switched off half the lights in some villages. According to the papers (including one national) there was a massive public outcry BUT.

One local daily sent a reporter to one village for a few nights. Far from an outcry the villagers seemed unbothered. The kids played football by starlight though some (without prompting) admitted it was nice just stop, look up and to see stars like they show on TV for the first time. Most other villagers went about there business using torches (as we do) with only one lady, who admitted she didn't go out at night anyway, saying she didn't like it being dark as there might be criminals lurking.

Then an anti spokesman arrived from somewhere else by car and started bending the reporters ear on the dangers in the dark and how irresponsible the council were. The reporter soon found that the spokesman saw no danger to himself or even to most local people whined on about the 'old folks' who might fall on a kerb in the dark.

By this time a crowd had gathered - mostly of old folks - who told the spokesman in no uncertain terms that having not had lights for most of their lives they were to the last to be bothered about when it got dark. Needless to say the spokesman was not having this as he knew best.

Unfortunately most reports echoed his (prepared?) words and 'due to public requests' the council relit the lights soon after. One understands they now plan to close schools to save money - a public outcry has started though this one sounds genuine.

[Brendan of Borg]

Good points there Tiny! Just love the attempted influence from 'outside' to bring change to the 'inside'!! Well said bud!

[glowjet]

The more Senior members of the forum will remember a time when all street lights were turned off. 1940 to 1945 all the people adapted to the environment, they had to do with no fuss or bother, and the skies, they were like black velvet, in this financial climate I am a supporter of the return of dusk to midnight lighting in residential areas, I can here the howls of protest now, but it`s a different time to when " PUT THAT LIGHT OUT " was the order of the day, never the less people would soon become accustomed to the new lighting times, the financial savings would benefit all.

John.

[Brendan of Borg]

Spot on John!

[Beulah]

Unfortunately most reports echoed his (prepared?) words and 'due to public requests' the council relit the lights soon after. One understands they now plan to close schools to save money

That would be akin to shutting a school because the local authority had decided to have a bonfire with two skips' worth of fifty pound notes as fuel.

I pray one day common sense will prevail in the people who "run" our communities...

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

.... common sense will prevail in the people who "run" our communities...

And in related news, several airborne pigs were spotted, and MPs kept their election promises.

I hate being cynical, I share the prayer, but 2 years as member of the faculty council of the SCIENCE faculty has eroded my faith in common sense

Apart from the issues surrounding so called "safety", I have know idiots, sorry, designers who claim any alteration to their street-light designs (which seem to be mainly aimed at illuminating owls, nightjars, and other fly-by-nights) would violate their intellectual property:eek:

Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that people keep trying to tackle this, and applaud any success:hello2:

[nicnac]

success would only be on a small scale, regional.

i say it would be a good start.

if all members on this forum were to write to their MPs on this matter maybe it would be enough to cause a little blip on the government radar.

[PeterW]

US trials with lower power whiter lights have been encouraging... making people 'feel safer' whilst cutting power consumption and waste light. I would hope we don't end up with "IR" pollution instead as I am hoping to use a CCD to drill through my local orange sky.

It has been tested that turning the lights out doen't lead to higher crime. Some roads benefit from lighting, but most don't. Our only hope is that we start to apply sense to when we need light to really make a difference and remove/turn off the rest... who needs the lights in my local carpqark at 3am... the cats/foxes?

Fingers crossed for a change

PEterW