On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:34:24 +0100, The Other Mike
wrote:

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 09:48:14 +0100, Jim S wrote:

North Tyneside and Newcastle have almost finished installing these. They
are in new places because their pattern of light has been designed by
computer. In some areas they are only on one side of the street.
By and large they are taller and only point downwards, but they can shine
in bedroom windows and sometimes shields are added to prevent this.
They come in various brightness and wavelengths.
My main grumble in this coastal area is that they keep the gulls awake most
of the night.

So bright that at 3am you can open a curtain and read a book 50 yards
from the nearest lamp.

The streetlights around here were changed around 5 years ago (a
contract for renewal and maintenance awarded to Balfour Beatty via a
local setup known as Aurora) from mainly a sort of inverted truncated
cone which gave no light beneath and quite a lot of light shining into
house windows around, and walls of buildings. The new lamps cast their
light more or less downwards.

The initial feeling generally was that streets seemed darker, because
people looking out of their windows were less dazzled - however,
illumination of the carriageways and footways when walking or driving
is much better.

It's a pity that some lamps are buried by the overhang from trees in
private gardens which almost completely obliterate a few footpaths,
causing the premature deaths of slugs and snails ...

--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland