Last month the Highways Agency began switching off the lights on parts of the M1 and claimed it would help save hundreds of tonnes of carbon a year. It also says the money saved will be used for safety and life saving measures on the strategic road network.
The affected parts of the M1 are between Junctions 10 and 13, including the approach roads.
Truck & Driver is keen to get your thoughts on whether or not this is a good idea. Do you think it is? Do you think it is creating a road safety risk? Does there need to be as much lighting on the motorway network as there is currently? And how do you feel after driving down this part of the M1 following the start of the initiative?
Please note your comments may be used as part of an article being written for the magazine.
Thank you very much.
I can’t see a safety problem as such except at busy junctions in switching off the street lights, all the coucils are doing it, but, as a constant night shift driver I find the sight of streetlights comforting, ie not such a strain on my eyes and therefore i don’t feel as tired when driving in lit areas.
I find it a much bigger safety concern with those drivers who insist on using full beam regardless of other road users
How is it a safety risk? people manage to drive on unlit A and B roads and they have far more hazards than a motorway.
I maybe wrong here, but arent headdlights used in the dark to light the road up in front of you? 
rorymotorbiker:
I can’t see a safety problem as such except at busy junctions in switching off the street lights, all the coucils are doing it, but, as a constant night shift driver I find the sight of streetlights comforting, ie not such a strain on my eyes and therefore i don’t feel as tired when driving in lit areas.
This.
When I used to do nights, I got tired on the M40 because it was a long stretch without lights, by time I was heading up the M6, I was ok again because of the street lights.
Personally I think they should stay, the bulk of the cost was installation, and that’s done, now they’re just penny pinching and really winding me up.
The amount of tax this country gets, it should be loaded, so stop giving it away to foreigners, lazy scroungers etc, and use it to improve the company, NHS, pot holes, fire, POLICE!! etc
Bloody taxed on everything, wages, fuel, road fund licence (used to be road tax), insurance tax, tax on everything you buy, I bet 50% + of our wages disappears on bloody tax, so they just need a decent accountant and they can leave the bloody street lights on.
On radio 2 they were on about there is no money to fix potholes 
No wonder, they are spending it all on managed motorways that tell you that you can only do 50mph in 10mph crawling traffic and building bypasses around villages with 3 houses 
waynedl:
rorymotorbiker:
I can’t see a safety problem as such except at busy junctions in switching off the street lights, all the coucils are doing it, but, as a constant night shift driver I find the sight of streetlights comforting, ie not such a strain on my eyes and therefore i don’t feel as tired when driving in lit areas.This.
When I used to do nights, I got tired on the M40 because it was a long stretch without lights, by time I was heading up the M6, I was ok again because of the street lights.
Personally I think they should stay, the bulk of the cost was installation, and that’s done, now they’re just penny pinching and really winding me up.
The amount of tax this country gets, it should be loaded, so stop giving it away to foreigners, lazy scroungers etc, and use it to improve the company, NHS, pot holes, fire, POLICE!! etc
Bloody taxed on everything, wages, fuel, road fund licence (used to be road tax), insurance tax, tax on everything you buy, I bet 50% + of our wages disappears on bloody tax, so they just need a decent accountant and they can leave the bloody street lights on.
according to a survey done some time ago the average person who was a moderate smoker and drinker and owned a car, typically would give back 60% of their wages to the government in taxes , even things such as bog paper & hot food,are subject to VAT when they introduced VAT is what supposed to only be for LUXURY items, nowadays they will even charge you a tax on a tax ,
DAF95XF:
I maybe wrong here, but arent headdlights used in the dark to light the road up in front of you?
I was of the same opinion 
I find many street lights stressfull on the eyes, particularly on long boring motorway stretches & can even make other vehicles differcult to spot although you can see those pedestrians who choose to take a short cut home occasionally! 
There seems to be a growing number of drivers who believe that only using sidelights ( in the dark or adverse weather especially) and travelling at 51 mph is going to save them hundreds of gallons of fuel even if it puts them in a possible dangerous situation!
I would switch all the lights off on major trunck routes and motorways, maybe even go so far as every other street light on the major urban/bypass roads to along with all the unnessesary traffic signals which are on 24 hours to!
Of course, if drivers were actually educated and taught how to drive in the dark & not just to pass a very simple test and then let loose in their cars then we wouldn’t need the roads lit up like daylight in the hours of darkness. 
Driver education is very lacking for the driving & road conditions of this Country!
The lights on this section are not being turned off, they are being removed!!. As one of the busiest stretches of motorway in England and with hard shoulder running being introduced, this is an accident waiting to happen. Twice in the last month, on this section, stranded vehicles have been hit, resulting in one fatality, when the lights have been on. No lighting makes trying to find incidents, especially debris, a lot harder and when an accident does happen, more vehicles collide because a vehicle,unlit, on it’s side is not spotted until its too late to brake. Another decision made by people who dont work on the roads or travel them at night time. 
I wish they would turn more street lamps off, there is one right outside my bedroom window and it still shines through the heaviest curtains. It is just too far from my reach to cover it, and the glass is too tough for an airgun 
Wheel Nut:
I wish they would turn more street lamps off, there is one right outside my bedroom window and it still shines through the heaviest curtains. It is just too far from my reach to cover it, and the glass is too tough for an airgun
Had that problem before in an old house, managed to open the little access panel on the bottom of the post with a ratchet and socket and just removed the fuse
Carbon my arse
Trees need to CO2 to produce Oxygen and that stuff is pretty useful to us 
Why don’t they just tell the bloody truth and say they’re trying to save a few quid
It’s a bit off route for me but I prefer unlit sections, especially in the rain
I think they should leave them on. It is always a relief to get to a lit stretch of M-way after a prolonged stretch of unlit M-way. And it will also make the problem of idiot car drivers who need full beam on at night much worse.
I’m pretty ‘meh’ about it. Most of the motorways and trunk routes here in the northern colonies are unlit and we seem to manage just fine, and that includes all of the eastern part of the M62 and the M1 through S Yorks. I would of course require a part refund of my taxes if they do decide to switch them off, however. 
I would miss the eery glow from the street lights in fog though. Something good about coming over Standedge at night when it’s foggy.
starfighter:
I think they should leave them on. It is always a relief to get to a lit stretch of M-way after a prolonged stretch of unlit M-way.
I do agree with you on that. When I come back from N Wales in the early hours it’s pitch black virtually all the way to the M6, but the lighting at Queensferry and then at the Wirral junction on the M56 are a nice break from the blackness.
Is it Belgium that has every single stretch of motorway lit? Think i read that but ive never been to Belgium.
merc0447:
Is it Belgium that has every single stretch of motorway lit? Think i read that but ive never been to Belgium.
Belgium is only about as big as London, so not exactly difficult.
Wheel Nut:
I wish they would turn more street lamps off, there is one right outside my bedroom window and it still shines through the heaviest curtains. It is just too far from my reach to cover it, and the glass is too tough for an airgun
i have the same problem at my gaff , one at the front that lights both front bedrooms up and due to the fact i have a gable ended house i also have one to the side that lights my back bedroom up aswell .
dam annoying sometimes .
Turn as many off as possible, far too much light pollution about.
As for A and B roads, I don’t know why streetlamps can’t be fitted with motion sensors so as a car passes each one, the next three or four light up and the ones behind the car are turned off.
Harry Monk:
Turn as many off as possible, far too much light pollution about.As for A and B roads, I don’t know why streetlamps can’t be fitted with motion sensors so as a car passes each one, the next three or four light up and the ones behind the car are turned off.
I guess you’re not familiar with how sodium-vapour lamps work then Harry?