Modernizing Street Lighting For Safety

By Marci Glover


Raised sources are the most preferred for lighting our towns, cities, road edges and walkways. In street lighting, the source of light is usually turned on and off at certain times. In modern times, lamps have photocells that are light-sensitive. Their work is to automatically turn on the light at night and off in the morning. Previously, solar dials aided this function. It is common for sources to be on tall poles connected with wires between them.

Before incandescent bulbs were invented, candle lighting was used in lighting cities. In the years that followed, bulbs were lit by people who went round the city every evening. They were then slightly improved to use an ignition machine that could strike fire automatically provided the supply of fuel was activated.

Invention of arc lamps made its mark as the foremost electric street illuminating method. Lamps made of carbon arcs using alternating current were used for ensuring that consumption of both electrodes took place at an equal rate. A departmental store in the French capital used this lighting system. The disadvantage with this type of illumination was the harsh intense light it emitted. It caused a lot of discomfort in towns, and maintaining it was time and resource consuming. They were replaced by brighter, cheaper and more reliable incandescent bulbs.

The operation of incandescent bulbs was often done using a lot of power through series arrangement of circuits. The high voltage carried by the circuits increased the usage of these lamps since they gave out more light per watt consumed. Series arrangement of circuits made controlling the bulbs less troublesome.

Contemporary street illumination entails use of discharge bulbs. In most instances, they are sodium lamps with high pressure within them. They emit large quantities of light, but only use small amounts of energy. Nevertheless, they are often found to be inappropriate for lighting during the night in contrast to ordinary white light. Study has established that the normal white light is the best for drivers owing to the fact that it helps them see properly, and act fast whenever braking is needed.

New technologies for street illumination like induction lights produce white light that gives high levels of lumen. This makes it possible for illumination that requires less power and lumen to substitute current ones. Lack of official specifications on the prescribed lights has made it impossible for most municipalities to endorse them. LED luminaries are being widely accepted owing to test confirmations that they are more energy-efficient and perform well.

A new harmonized measurement system has been invented. It operates using two concurrent measuring systems. This was seen as being a noble invention since less energy is spent compared to earlier methods. The cost of measurement is greatly reduced. It is possible to measure three light pollution properties; glare, trespass and glow, using this method. It is also practical to assign a value to the performance of current and future lighting applications and designs for the sake of cutting down the amount of light crossing the borders of any property.

It is important to illuminate the streets since doing so prevents occurrence of accidents and improves safety. Illuminating the streets can, however cause accidents and pollution if it is not properly implemented. Accidents likely to arise include; loss of night vision, electrocution due to stray voltage and collisions due to bad lighting.




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