A recent study by The Times discovered that there has been an increase of casualties on streets where lights have been switched off.
324 more people were killed or seriously injured in crashes on dark streets in 2011 to 2012 than in 2009 to 2010. In the same time period, the number of deaths in road accidents at night rose by 39% and serious injuries rose by 27%.
However, there is debate over whether the turning off of street lights is a contributing factor to the number of accidents. The Local Government Association said:
If councils were presented with evidence it was causing a public safety risk they would act. However, this data fails to provide that evidence and it is completely misleading to suggest it tells us anything about the cause of accidents.
This study by The Times was based on a collective review of 800,000 police records.
So what’s your opinion? Do you think it’s merely a coincidence or a definite public safety hazard?
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