Road road lighting costing lives

Source: 3NEWS/ NZN

More than 60 lives could be saved on New Zealand's roads each year if lighting was improved according to a new report.

A paper to be delivered to the Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference in Wellington on Friday says there is insufficient road lighting and what exists is of low quality.

It says the two factors combine to be a major contributor to the death and injury statistics on New Zealand's roads at night.

"The risk of death and injury from driving at night in NZ is 5.8 times greater than during daytime in contrast to international experience, which shows it is only twice the risk," it said.

The report's authors, Godfrey Bridger of Bridger Beavis & Associates Ltd, and Bryan King of Lighting Management Consultants Ltd, say with better road lighting, the number of fatalities and injuries on the roads at night could be cut by 35 percent.

Last year 375 people were killed on the roads and it says 61 lives could be saved if improvements were made.

As little as a quarter of residential streets were lit to the lighting levels in other developed countries and only around 75 percent of highways had the same levels enjoyed in the United States, the United Kingdom and other European countries.

It recommends roading authorities should look at using LED lighting. Preliminary international research indicates it may provide better driving vision than the yellow lighting currently used in New Zealand.
"A national road lighting upgrade is a no-brainer," Mr Bridger said.

Spending $700 million on a nationwide upgrade of road lights would return a benefit-cost ratio of 10.3, based on reducing night time crashes, the report says.

That was even without factoring in savings from greater energy efficiency and reduced maintenance.