LANTERNS is a collaborative study involving 62 local authorities in England & Wales to assess whether changes to provision of street lighting at night have been associated with increases in crime or road traffic crashes. The study analysed data on street lighting changes along 20,000 km of road, including switch off, part-night switch off, dimming lights, and white light/LEDs. Results will be presented the effects on road traffic casualties and crime (burglary, violence, robbery and vehicle theft).
Talk by Dr Phil Edwards, Senior Lecturer
Re-membering the Bard: Revisiting The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)...
PLS 2015: LANTERNS: Local Authority collaborators' National Evaluation of Reduced Night-time Street light
1. Improving health worldwide
www.lshtm.ac.uk
Phil Edwards
LANTERNS Project
Senior Lecturer, Department of Population Health
Does street lighting
adaptation impact on
road traffic injury or crime?
The LANTERNS project is funded by
the NIHR Public Health Research
Programme. The views expressed
here are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect those of
NIHR or the Department of Health
3. Evidence for street lighting
Welsh BC, Farrington DP.
Effects of improved street lighting on crime. Campbell
Systematic Reviews 2008:13 DOI: 10.4073/csr.2008.13
Beyer FR, Ker K.
Street lighting for preventing road traffic injuries. Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 1. Art. No.:
CD004728. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004728.pub2.
5. 1. Collate information on street lighting
adaptation schemes nationally
2. Statistically examine whether reduced lighting
has effects on traffic collisions and crime
3. Explore public opinion on street lighting
provision, and potential for reducing levels
4. Investigate whether street lighting adaptation
schemes offer value for money
Project aims
6. 1. Collate information on street lighting
adaptation schemes nationally
2. Statistically examine whether reduced lighting
has effects on traffic collisions and crime
3. Explore public opinion on street lighting
provision, and potential for reducing levels
4. Investigate whether street lighting adaptation
schemes offer value for money
Project aims
8. slope pre-
Monthly
counts of
collisions/
crime
Time (months)
slope post-
step change associated with
the intervention
Lighting interventions
introduced:
•Part-night lighting
•Dimming
•White light/LEDs
•Switch off
9. Example dataset
Column ID Easting Northing Change Regime Date change applied
58 466015 174494 White Light LED 03/02/2012
78 465885 173200 White Light LED 26/03/2013
83 466006 174470 White Light LED 03/02/2012
84 465977 174470 White Light LED 03/02/2012
85 465958 174450 White Light LED 03/02/2012
86 465973 174438 White Light LED 03/02/2012
87 466001 174448 White Light LED 03/02/2012
88 466034 174445 White Light LED 03/02/2012
89 465937 174420 White Light LED 03/02/2012
90 465927 174422 White Light LED 03/02/2012
91 465922 174389 White Light LED 03/02/2012
99 465544 174593 White Light LED 30/01/2011
100 465584 174600 White Light LED 30/01/2011
101 465512 174571 White Light LED 30/01/2011
10207 464465 171217 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10208 464432 171206 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10209 464394 171191 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10210 464352 171170 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10211 464311 171145 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10212 464274 171119 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10213 464234 171085 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10214 464198 171049 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10207 464465 171217 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
10208 464432 171206 Part-night lighting 00:00 to 05:30 24/02/2012
15. Police.uk data spatial accuracy
Tompson, L., Johnson, S.D., Ashby, M., Perkins, C., and Edwards, P. (2014). UK open
source crime data: Accuracy and possibilities for research. Cartography and Geographic
Information Science, 42(2), 97-111.
24. Night-time collisions on roads (2000–13):
5,670 (4%) with part-night lighting
11,634 (7%) with dimming
12,423 (8%) with white light
1,202 (0.7%) with switch off
25. Overall
(I2 = 0.0%, p =0.46) 0.95 (0.84, 1.07)
0.78 (0.50, 1.22)
1.82 (0.58, 5.75)
0.80 (0.60, 1.07)
0.99 (0.63, 1.54)
1.35 (0.85, 2.12)
0.97 (0.80, 1.17)
0.96 (0.74, 1.24)
Decrease with PNL Increase with PNL
1.5 1 2
Part night light Rate ratio (95% CI)
East
London
East Midlands
Wales
West Midlands
North East
South West
Yorkshire
North West
South East
Region
26. Overall
(I2 = 1.7%, p =0.42)
North East
Yorkshire
Wales
London
East Midlands
South West
South East
East
North West
West Midlands
1.00 (0.91, 1.10)
0.87 (0.64, 1.19)
1.18 (0.82, 1.70)
0.98 (0.75, 1.28)
0.86 (0.64, 1.16)
0.86 (0.70, 1.07)
1.13 (0.94, 1.36)
1.15 (0.71, 1.84)
1.16 (0.78, 1.72)
Decrease with Dimming Increase with Dimming
1.5 1 2
Dimming Rate ratio (95% CI)Region
27. Overall
(I2 = 38.1%, p =0.11) 1.01 (0.93, 1.09)
1.06 (0.88, 1.28)
0.84 (0.64, 1.10)
0.96 (0.81, 1.15)
1.10 (0.80, 1.51)
1.30 (1.03, 1.65)
0.90 (0.71, 1.14)
0.76 (0.48, 1.21)
1.21 (0.95, 1.55)
0.89 (0.73, 1.09)
Decrease with White Increase with White
1.5 1 2
White light Rate ratio (95% CI)
East
London
East Midlands
Wales
West Midlands
North East
South West
Yorkshire
North West
South East
Region
28. Overall
(I2 = 0.0%, p =0.98)
East
London
East Midlands
Wales
West Midlands
North East
South West
Yorkshire
North West
South East
0.97 (0.82, 1.15)
0.98 (0.79, 1.22)
0.97 (0.58, 1.62)
Rate ratio (95% CI)
0.95 (0.68, 1.32)
Decrease with Switch off Increase with Switch off
1.5 1 2
Switch offRegion
40. Conclusions
-Reduced street lighting over recent years has been
done safely, without increasing road traffic
casualties or crime.
-Part-night lighting and dimming may be
considered after careful assessment by qualified
lighting professional, using a risk-based analysis.
42. Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the advice and
support of the Institution of Lighting Professionals
and the London Lighting Engineers Group.
The authors also thank: Denise Kendrick, Emily Conner and
Mark Norris for advice, and the local authority street lighting
managers who provided data for the project.
Editor's Notes
Studies of street lighting on crime have only tested the hypothesis that increasing levels of illumination are associated with reductions in crime.
Beyer and Ker (2010) included 17 controlled before-after studies; seven studies included a designated control site, the other 10 studies collected data at one site only and used day-time data as the control.
Pooled results of studies that used control areas provided some evidence for a protective effect of increased street lighting on reducing road injury (Risk Ratio 0.78; 95% confidence interval 0.63 to 0.97).
It should be noted that the methodological quality of the included studies was considered to be poor and the risk of bias therefore high.
The review authors recommend high quality evaluations that will adequately determine the effectiveness of street lighting on the incidence of road traffic injury.
Approximate location (all crimes in street ‘snapped’ to one place)
All times of the day combined.
Crime—across the 62 local authority areas during the period December 2010 to December 2013 there had been:
581,837 burglaries
475,657 thefts of or from a vehicle
67,470 robberies
730,280 violence offences
There are of course limitations with this study. For example, it is possible that some local authorities declined to participate because of media reports of increases in collisions due to lighting changes in their areas. If so, we may have underestimated the effects. In addition, we could not account for other road safety or crime prevention initiatives, e.g. improved road markings or introduction of CCTV cameras. If such measures were introduced more often in streets where lighting was changed, it is possible that traffic collisions and crime were changed as a result of these measures, rather than the lighting per se. It is also possible that the number of road users who travel in streets where street lighting was reduced decreased at the same time that the lighting was reduced, resulting in fewer collisions in those streets. However, our qualitative and survey evidence suggests that changes to mobility in affected areas was likely to be minimal.
Local authorities who reduced provision of street lighting over recent years have done so safely, without increasing road traffic casualties or crime. Switching off lights at night may be considered as part of a local lighting adaptation strategy, providing that each area is carefully assessed by a qualified lighting professional, using a risk-based analysis. Street lighting remains important to many urban and suburban residents, and some feel less safe walking alone in the dark. Changes to lighting will need to be managed carefully.