Do you think street lights should be on motion sensors? Why/ why not?

Question

Please back up your answers with reasons and (if you have them) please include the sources of your information.

Answer 1

It costs more to turn on a light over and over rather than turn it on and keep it on. The filament has to heat up each and every time. As oppsed to if you turn it on and leave it on, it would a consistant tempurature and would use so much electricty to regenrate the heat to light the bulb each time.

Answer 2

My initial reaction was no. Solar power would be great. But I think safety would be compromised with motion sensors. If you are walking and someone is standing there (being still enough to not trigger the motion sensors), you wouldn't be able to see them until you were very close. What if they meant to do you harm? How sensitive can the sensors be? The lights being on ahead of me make me feel safer when I walk at night. Perhaps it is a bit paranoid, but that is my gut reaction.

Answer 3

Are the street lights in your area not on motions sensors?   They are in my area, and they work great.  They don't go completely off they just go dim and then brighter when someone walks near them or a car drives near them.  I love it, it keeps the bugs away, they are not as attracted to the dim light, and it does not shine bright all the time so it does not bother me for sleeping.

Answer 4

Well, it wouldn't do any good on highways or highly traveled streets.

But it would be great for rural or residential areas. A motion sensor can be combined with a solar battery as well! it would save heaps of energy

the only drawback would be that the sensor would have to be able to "see" a car hundreds of feet away so it come come on by the time it got close enough. thats especially important if there are people or animals around the light.

I agree with the traffic light comments though too. i've thought for years there sohould be some kind of "smart" light that turns green automatically if no one is coming the other way. that would cut down on a decent amount of idling

Answer 5

What a great idea! Never thought of that. Err! Reasons ...save money? would be a great light display for us (we live on a hill overlooking the whole of our town), would keep the drunken yobs occupied, etc.

Answer 6

no but I go think they should be run by solar energy panels on  top.

Answer 7

only if the sensors went on at night because it would save in electricity, but if they went on during the day as well, they would always be on and electricty would be wasted.

Answer 8

No...sitting and waiting isn't that big of a deal.  And people like me look to see if the other side is changing.  But some people don't pay attention to how far from the light they are and get used to how long the delays are during busy times and just assume it's going to change like normal.

Answer 9

yes because in the dark ur suposred to have ur headlights on and i think we should have streat lighs that have thoughs energy saver light bulbs because they last along time

Answer 10

No.  Unless the motion sensors were tweaked up really high to pick up small children and animals it would result in dangerous conditions.  You would not be able to see farther than your headlights and end up hitting things.  Then it would be anoying to have the lights going on and off all night.

Answer 11

this is such a good idea that I expect to see it implemented within a few years.

street lights are primarily a convenience for pedestrians as cars have their own lights. there are no street lights on most intercity hi ways for instance.

lights that are only on when someone is walking near them would also be more of a crime deterrent than lights that are constantly on all night long.

it will be hard to overcome the annoyance factor for people living near them, but that could be partially off set by giving some residents discounts on their electric bills.

Answer 12

Yes because when I'm at the street lights and its red on me, and nobody else is there and its STILL red, i have to wait forever! it drives me crazy! It should only be green if there are people there going!

Answer 13

Nice idea.  The only drawback that I can think of is; when you turn a light on and off repeatedly, it burns out quicker.

Answer 14

No, they should be run on solar power.

Answer 15

No.  

Because every street would be a crazy mess of constant blinking lights!  Would you want that outside your bedroom window?