The problem with warm lights is that they are much harder to see in the dark. Maybe dim lights around 505nm would be a better idea.
The problem with warm lights is that they are much harder to see in the dark. Maybe dim lights around 505nm would be a better idea.
I agree with you, though: lights blinking off and on all the time are not great. I drove somewhere in Europe where they did that with streetlights on major roads, and found it startling, long past the point at which I'd have assumed I'd become used to it. It wasn't the ones that were responding to me, it was the ones that responded to traffic on the opposite side of the road - they'd flash on in my peripheral vision and make me jump. Did not like.
That's only if they're moving within the sensors that switch on the light.
> The problem with warm lights is that they are much harder to see in the dark.
Not sure what "in the dark" means here. Light by definition is easier to see in the dark than it is in light as it has less light to compete with.
In any case, I find warm lights much easier. Cold lights are too much sensorial information for me. In any case, street light at night shouldn't be meant to allow you to see everything like it's a sunny day. It's supposed to give you enough light that you can see your surroundings and potential threats around you. For that, warm lights should be more than enough. If you need more light clarity, light your own phone torch or something.
Good point! In this case of nighttime lighting infrastructure it has become so vastly overbuilt as if to save people “the trouble” of these simple targeted solutions.
And that is the other reason. Those would still make nights look like nights, they should look sort of moonlight like with reasonable brightness.
Dim, but cool coloured lights? That's certainly better than bright cool ones but I still find them very annoying and overstimulating at night.
The only thing I can't do with dim, warm lighting is read small text from something other than a backlit screen. For everything else, it's perfectly fine. And if I do see myself having to do that, I'll just add a spot of light to what I'm trying to read, problem solved.
A few years ago I lived in a neighbourhood where all the street lights had a dark yellow tint, very warm coloured. They weren't all that bright either. I could see a person a block away with ease.
Again, that was far from ideal to read a book, but why would I do that out on the streets at night?