What's the point in having streetlights?

SuperInfinity · 08-09-2010 10:36PM #1

Especially for rural villages such as mine. What on earth is the point in having those huge, energy-guzzling monstrosities threatening the darkness of our home when we want to sleep.

The community association had them built recently as a "project" in order to "improve" the village. They should have just left it the way things were. Maybe the village is fine as it is, maybe there's no way to improve it.

At a time when we're encouraged to turn off or dim the small lights in our homes when we're not using them, then you have the outside light up like it's daylight when nobody wants them. Can anyone say something for these things?

copacetic · 08-09-2010 10:37PM

maybe they thought that you were missing and were trying to find you?

Cookie_Monster · 08-09-2010 10:37PM

so you don't walk into a wall cos its too dark to see on the way home

CR 7 · 08-09-2010 10:37PM

Generally I find they help to light up the streets.

FearDark · 08-09-2010 10:38PM

Whats the point in anything really.

alan4cult · 08-09-2010 10:39PM

Stops people speeding through, allows pedestrians to see, lights up the place, stops robberies.

FreudianSlippers · 08-09-2010 10:39PM

FearDark wrote: »

Whats the point in anything really.

depressing post is depressing.

AckwelFoley · 08-09-2010 10:40PM

The singing in the rain video would just not be the same without them

Celly Smunt · 08-09-2010 10:40PM

OisinT wrote: »

depressing post is depressing.

cool story bro

KeithM89_old · 08-09-2010 10:40PM

I always thought it'd be cooler if the lights were embedded in the footpaths/roads

The_Kew_Tour · 08-09-2010 10:40PM

In case you walk into big pole in middle of street

alwaysadub · 08-09-2010 10:41PM

What's the point in having streets so. Without streets,we wouldn't need streetlights..
We should all just knock off the lights start walking along the roads. In the dark.

Celly Smunt · 08-09-2010 10:41PM

it'd be nice to see candle lit lanterns around towns again

Cookie_Monster · 08-09-2010 10:41PM

alan4cult wrote: »

Stops people speeding through, .

how do street lights stop speeding?

The_Kew_Tour · 08-09-2010 10:41PM

Park Ji Sung wrote: »

Generally I find they help to light up the streets.

No way

:eek::eek::eek:

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 08-09-2010 10:44PM

they damage the night vision of pedestrians so rapists and muggers hiding in shadows are harder to see

CR 7 · 08-09-2010 10:45PM

Why don't we just like put a huge like mirror into space like, that way the sun could like light up all the world all the time. That'd be totally rad.

stovelid · 08-09-2010 10:46PM

SuperInfinity wrote: »

Especially for rural villages such as mine. What on earth is the point in having those huge, energy-guzzling monstrosities threatening the darkness of our home when we want to sleep.

Have you tried curtains or blinds?

Thrill · 08-09-2010 10:49PM

They're trying it out across the pond....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309951/Lives-risk-councils-switch-street-lights-say-AA.html

‘Lives at risk’ as councils switch off street lights say AA

Lives are being put at risk by councils turning off tens of thousands of street lights to save money, MPs and road safety campaigners warned yesterday.
The AA hit out at the growing practice of local authorities turning off street lights to cut their power bills – warning it ‘could lead to more crashes and crime’.

Louise Ellman, chairman of the Commons transport committee, also questioned the practice, warning it could damage attempts to cut the death toll on Britain’s roads, particularly as accident rates are already higher at night.
She said: ‘I am extremely concerned that financial pressures are leading to steps which can jeopardise people’s lives and increase the number of injuries.

‘We’ve made great progress in recent years in reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roads. It would be tragic if by switching the lights off, that progress was to be put back many years.’

The warnings came amid evidence that a growing number of councils are turning off street lights at night. The Highways Agency has also run pilot schemes to turn off lights on some stretches of motorway.

Britain’s 7.5million street lights cost about £500million a year to operate, making them a tempting target for cash-strapped councils looking to make savings.

Leicestershire County Council said it believed it could save up to £700,000 a year by switching off certain street lights during the early hours of the morning.

up for anything · 08-09-2010 10:54PM

Sing after me....

Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira

It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine
aristocrats to the lamp-post
It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine
the aristocrats, we'll hang them!
If we don't hang them
We'll break them
If we don't break them
We'll burn them
It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine
aristocrats to the lamp-post
It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine
the aristocrats, we'll hang them!
We have no more nobles nor priests

Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine.
Equality will reign everywhere
The Galway hure shall follow him
Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine
And their infernal Golden clique
Shall go to hell
It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine
aristocrats to the lamp-post
It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine
the aristocrats, we'll hang them!
And when we'll have hung them all
We'll stuff a spade up their arse

starbelgrade · 08-09-2010 10:59PM

KeithM89 wrote: »

I always thought it'd be cooler if the lights were embedded in the footpaths/roads

Like the Billie Jean video.

ejmaztec · 08-09-2010 11:03PM

But what will people do, if they can't connect their houses to a lampost to get free electricity?

Have a heart.:(

GTE · 08-09-2010 11:04PM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

how do street lights stop speeding?

It could be argued, though Im not sure where I stand on it, but it could be argued that on roads at night when a driver sees the street lights he or she know some kind of built up area or a junction is ahead and slows down.

I suppose the correct way to put it is that instead of helping to cut speeding it makes the driver more aware of built up areas and junctions ahead.

SuperInfinity · 08-09-2010 11:17PM

bbk wrote: »

It could be argued, though Im not sure where I stand on it, but it could be argued that on roads at night when a driver sees the street lights he or she know some kind of built up area or a junction is ahead and slows down.

I suppose the correct way to put it is that instead of helping to cut speeding it makes the driver more aware of built up areas and junctions ahead.

Or alternatively it makes the driver think: "Ah built up place ahead, full visibility, probably a grand road, time to speed up". I have to admit that I personally do speed up a slight bit in the very well lit places, because I can see everything.

If you find the idea of it being dark at night depressing, then you may honestly have some issues.... come on... at night time it's supposed to be dark.

spurious · 08-09-2010 11:22PM

Park Ji Sung wrote: »

Why don't we just like put a huge like mirror into space like, that way the sun could like light up all the world all the time. That'd be totally rad.

I vote we call it the Mun, or Mon, or something like that.

copacetic · 08-09-2010 11:25PM

copacetic wrote: »

maybe they thought that you were missing and were trying to find you?

c'mon people, the village are missing their _ _ _ _ _

FreudianSlippers · 08-09-2010 11:26PM

spurious wrote: »

I vote we call it the Mun, or Mon, or something like that.

Or giant space mirror?!

KeithM89_old · 08-09-2010 11:29PM

Or 'Sun 2'

Novella · 08-09-2010 11:34PM

Street lights make the street less dark so that people don't walk into things, and em, it's not so scary!

FreudianSlippers · 08-09-2010 11:44PM

KeithM89 wrote: »

Or 'Sun 2'

The other sun!

Voodoomelon · 08-09-2010 11:49PM

I often thought if they spaced street and motorway lights apart 50% more, it would make frig all difference. Obviously I could be completely wrong, muggings and crashed could go up 50%...

What's the point in having streetlights?

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