It now seems very unlikely that county council will change their policy on this. Quite how it passes their health and safety when Borough council wont even let me have a wall basket planter because a speck of soil may fly into someone's eye is quite amazing. The trip hazards, the accident hazard from parked cars, pedestrians, the crime risk, assaults, car burglaries and damage etc.
This does mean that many of you will now be parking illegally when you park outside of your own homes. If you park within ten metres of a junction you must have parking lights on
www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/wccweb.nsf/Links/1E327B0D7FF4BDB4802579FF002F2B3F/$file/Item+5+-+Street+Lighting+Task+and+Finish+Group+Report.pdftake note '3.3.1 The actual effect that street lighting has on crime and road safety is still a
subject of serious debate.'
STILL a subject of serious debate so your county council IS risking your safety. I urge everyone to ring and complain when this is implemented.
another ...3.3.4 At the time of writing, no local authority has released comprehensive figures
for either crime or road accidents before and after the implementation of partnight lighting; however, a number of authorities that the Task and Finish
Group contacted have committed to doing reviews in the next twelve months.
Then we have Milton Keynes. I can assure you that there was no strobe effect. I know the city very well and only the main grid roads are national speed limit, all of the roads off those grids are 30mph ....
3.3.7 Road Safety
3.3.8 Milton Keynes Council recently made national headlines after a decision to
switch a significant number of their street lights back to all night operation
following two major road accidents in darkened areas. It is important to note
that, in terms of road safety, Milton Keynes is unique in that it has a US-style
grid road system that allows cars to reach very high speeds and removing
lights along certain sections meant that it was possible drivers would have
seen a disorienting stroboscopic effect which may have contributed to the
accident.
3.3.9 Street lights have also been switched back on at five of 46 part-night lighting
locations in Buckinghamshire because of increases in the number of
accidents at four of the five sites.
17
Despite increases in the levels of
accidents at a small number of sites, the average number of injury collisions
across the County fell by 26%.
3.3.10 The majority of Local Authorities that responded to the Task and Finish
Group’s questionnaire reported that part-night lighting had no measurable
impact on road safety.
3.3.11 Evidence on both sides of the debate is
far from conclusive but members
were largely encouraged by the figures published so far, that show no
significant increases in the levels of crime or road accidents following the
operation of part-night lighting.
Far from conclusive but its going to be forced on us for years anyway
3.4.13 The majority of the respondents who fundamentally disagreed with switching
street lights off stated that this was due to the perceived increased risk of
crime. To address this problem, the Task and Finish Group recommend that
the WCC’s Communications department work with Street Lighting Engineers
to produce a media campaign with the aim of reducing the population’s fear of
crime around part-night street lighting.
So they don't KNOW if it will make driving more dangerous or if it will increase danger from crime but they'll spend money on a media campaign brain washing you with propaganda that you'll be safe.
R2. Monitor findings from other local authorities that operate partnight lighting
During the review it was noted that Milton Keynes Council, Northamptonshire
County Council, and Buckinghamshire County Council had switched sections
of part-night lighting back on following road safety incidents. Members
believed it was important that Officers monitor these issues and ensure that
any relevant lessons are learned and actions are taken to prevent similar
incidents from happening in Warwickshire.
but Warwickshire will go ahead anyway
Not satisfied with putting us at risk in areas of county street lighting they don't want to be shown up by caring responsible town councils so want them to turn their street lighting off too...
Recommendation 3
The Task and Finish Group recommend that Officers explore a
consistent approach to street lighting across the County by
encouraging District, Borough, and Town Councils to adopt the same
scheme and offering our assistance in helping them set up the
necessary systems.
then ...
R5. Addressing the fear of crime
The overwhelming response from the public engagement was negative and
the majority of comments included references to a fear of crime,
despite a
lack of compelling evidence.Recommendation 5
The Task and Finish Group recommend that the WCC’s
Communications department work with Street Lighting Engineers to
produce a media campaign with the aim of reducing the population’s
fear of crime around part-night street lighting.
yet they've already admitted they could be wrong.
FRom the interviews with various other local authorities it is clear that the implementation was planned well ahead of any consultation and forced through regardless so the consultation if done was just for show. Authorities received hundreds of complaints in the first few weeks but the public aren't thick, they know when they're flogging a dead horse and quickly realize they don't count.
I notice there's no interview with Leicestershire council or Buckinghamshire
The display of the results of public consultation by WCC are clearly biased towards part time lighting. Quite what age and ethnicity have to do with is puzzling. I'd have thought it was opinions that matter but apparently not.
