One factor determines if pedestrians feel safe at night

Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 9:19 AM - If you’ve ever walked down a quiet street at night, or even a dark and stormy one, you might have felt the need to glance over your shoulder once or twice.

To feel unsafe walking down a poorly lit street isn’t a groundless concern. But a recent study proves that one minor factor plays a large role in increasing pedestrians' level of security when walking outdoors after dark.

A study from the University of Grenada (UGR), published in Safety Science magazine finds pedestrians feel safer walking on streets with white lights as oppose to yellow lights (technically referred to as “sodium-yellow.”)

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Scientists from UGR’s departments of Civil Engineering and Social Psychology analyzed different variables on 275 pedestrians, including the participants’ perceived level of safety and well-being while walking by streets with certain types of illuminance. The test was administered right after participants walked by streets with public lighting on, to ensure responses weren’t pre-determined by memories or other ideas, unrelated to the study.

The study also examined pedestrians’ behavior in a variety of subjective matters. In every circumstance, their reactivity increased with the rise in illuminance levels.

”The results, although obvious in some of the questions of the inquiry, in others were more paradoxical and should call our attention about the elaboration of new regulations on public lighting,” Antonio Manuel Peña García, one of the study’s key author’s and professor at UGR’s department of Civil Engineering, tells Phys.org.

The widespread benefits of LED lights

With the global effort to endorse an environmentally conscious lifestyle, many cities around the world have adapted existing street lights (often sodium-vapor lamps, emitting a yellowish colour) to sustainable LED lamps, which produce a “natural” lighting effect closer to white lights. LED lights allow a higher level of illuminance, but run on a lower level of energy consumption.

Science Newsline Psychology notes that pedestrians’ preference of white lights could be due to the fact that they enable a clearer observation of human faces.

In 2013, Toronto saw more traffic fatalities than homicides, The Toronto Star reports. Out of the 63 traffic-related deaths that year, two-thirds were pedestrians.

Since, the pattern remains the same, with traffic fatalities exceeding homicides. 2015 was particularly record-breaking, exceeding 2013’s figures with 64 traffic-related deaths – more than half of which were pedestrians.

Although the bulk of accidents was due to drivers making an unobservant turn, perhaps the issue of brighter, whiter street lighting in major metropolitan areas can play a role in traffic safety, too.

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SOURCE: UGR | Phys.org | Torontoist | Science Newsline | The Toronto Star