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Lights switched off on Motorways in England

Now this is something which struck me as unusual, compared to the usual policies of most towns and cities in my country, England. The Highways Agency of the UK Government is switching OFF most of the overhead road lights from 12AM until 5AM on quite a few stretches of the Motorways in England, and the policy is now going to be extended! ;-

The above link gives a list of the locations where the scheme is being used currently.

My experience of driving is that actually what I would like is NOT a complete switch off, but quite a LARGE dimming of them, for all the hours that they operate (from twilight onwards), so the road is lit, but nice and softly, so I can easily use my headlights and the soft light to see things without straining. That would save money and CO2 emissions. They should use SOX low pressure Sodium (the most efficient converter of money into light that can be still filtered out by Astronomers!) on a low wattage, with FULL CUT OFF lighting (i.e. shielded).

I really hate it when everywhere else is over brightly, glaringly lit, with the lights streaming into my eyes from everywhere from cobra head high pressure Sodium lights, they really bug me when I'm trying to drive.

I have never understood why people can't just be SENSIBLE about this issue - a LITTLE soft light, i.e. a LOT less than we have now in our towns and cities, directed at the road, not spilled into the sky, and the sky would be a lot less orange and I'd see a lot more stars and be able to drive more easily.


Alistair G.
19.5" F4.1 Dob (too big, unused LOL), Meade SN102 (very much gets used), 8-24x25 Nikon zoom bino's. TV 8mm Rad., TV 32mm Pl. Meade SP26mm (cut down barrel!), MA25, MA9. Have been using a friend's LX90 8" ACF a lot LOL for the last 3 years with Revelation ep set. but he just moved down south! I have C11 and Meade 7" Mak OTA's but no mount for them at present! Just got some Celestron UpClose G2 10-30x50mm long ER Zoom bins!
As an American, the idea of lighting a highway outside of a major city seems shocking to me. It's simply not done in the U.S. Thank heavens!

Tony Flanders


First and foremost observing love: naked eye.

Second, binoculars.

Last but not least, telescopes.

And I sometimes dabble with cameras.

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Agreed it is bad enough with all the lights by interchanges. No idea why there are so many lights its like daylight. One of my friends thinks you could grow tomatoes under them.
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Really? Apparently you have not been to Northern Virginia/DC Suburbs.

For example, Route 28 is lit from one end to the other with ridiculously bright sodium bulbs. And I would not classify anything around there as "major city". Northern Virginia is pretty bad when it comes to LP. Most businesses in the 'burbs leave their lights on 24/7. Power is cheap I assume.



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