Apples for Health- Study: Streetlights stop traffic crashes

Study: Streetlights stop traffic crashes

NEWCASTLE, England, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Adding streetlights to roads would be a low-cost way of stemming the global epidemic of traffic death and injury, British researchers suggest.

A systematic review by Cochrane Researchers shows there are fewer crashes and resulting injuries on roads that are better lit.

The World Health Organization estimates 1 million people die each year on the world's roads and up to an additional 50 million are injured, causing an estimated global bill of $578 billion.

"Road traffic crashes are not just the unfortunate culmination of chance, but are events that can be analyzed so that the risk factors are identified and then addressed," lead researcher Fiona Beyer of the Institute of Health and Society at the University of Newcastle in England said in a statement. "Darkness is a risk factor -- street lighting is therefore a valuable tool."

The researchers pooled data from 14 studies on the effects of street lighting on road safety. They found that street lighting reduced total crashes by between 32 percent and 55 percent, and fatal injury crashes by 77 percent.

"In the United Kingdom, an increasing number of local councils are looking to turn off some public street lighting in a move to reduce costs and carbon emissions. The potential adverse road safety impact of such a policy should be carefully considered in light of our findings," Beyer said.