Purpose and Benefits of Road Lighting - Road Lighting: Fundamentals, Technology and Application - page 4

Especially in residential areas (but also in industrial areas), road lighting also
serves to discourage violence, vandalism and crime in general. Many studies are
carried out into the relation between improved road lighting and crime prevention,
some of them with conflicting results and some of them of poor research quality. On
the basis of extensive literature study, Welsh and Farrington ( 2008 ) made a meta-
analysis 1 , including only those studies that fulfilled minimum quality of research
requirements. From this meta-analysis, based on 13 USA and UK studies, they
concluded that improved road lighting (the quality of which, unfortunately, is not
always clearly quantified) has a significant effect on crime reduction. Crime (property
and violent) decreased by 21 % in the areas with improved lighting compared to the
control areas without improved lighting.
Yet another aspect to which good road lighting should contribute, is the feeling
of security of residents. Perceived insecurity after dark in the urban space limits mo-
bility, especially that of young women and the elderly (Banister and Bowling 2004 ;
Blöbaum and Henecke 2005 ; Johansson et al. 2011 ) . It restricts their participation
in social life and can lead to social isolation. Fotios et al. ( 2014 ) introduced in this
context the term “reassurance” to describe the confidence a pedestrian might gain
from road lighting to walk along a road. A feeling of insecurity especially arises
when an easy escape possibility is not available, or would seem not to be available.
It is therefore essential that the road lighting is harmonised with a proper design of
the outdoor environment, so as to make escape possibilities clearly visible during the
hours of darkness. Ease of recognition of faces during encounters between people
in the street, may further increase the sense of security. If the subjective feeling of
security is good, people will be encouraged to go out, which in turn, improves the
actual security of the area because a street with more people out on the street is more
secure than a street devoid of people.
Finally, road lighting can increase the attractiveness of a whole city or a neigh-
bourhood, both for local residents and visitors alike. This is especially so if it is
integrated with specific urban decorative lighting of buildings and monuments.
References
Assum T, Björnskau T, Fosser S, Sagberg F (1999) The risk compensation: the case of road lighting.
Accid Anal Prev 31(5):545-553
Banister D, Bowling A (2004) Quality of life for the elderly: the transportation dimension. Transport
Policy 11:105-115
Blöbaum A, Henecke M (2005) Perceived danger in urban public space, the impacts of physical
features and personal factors. Environ Behav 37:465-486
1 Meta-analysis is a statistical analysis of several separate but similar studies in order to test their
combined data for a statistically significant statement. Some of these studies may individually be
too small for making a significant statement.