There was an article in today’s Guardian about how Belgium is switching off lights along roads. The article states:

“Although lighting increases people’s feeling of safety and willingness to walk in public spaces at night, it does not always mean they are actually safer. One study into the effects of reduced street lighting in England and Wales found that it was not associated with significant changes in crime or with the number of road collisions. Other reviews have found inconclusive evidence that lighting reduces crime, and indeed data on it reducing road collisions also paints a mixed picture.”

and

“Findings of the negative effects of light pollution on nature, as well as human and plant health, are unequivocal. Experts argue that light pollution should be treated as a pressure on nature that is akin to habitat loss or chemical pollution. More than half of insects are active at night. In France, an estimated 2,000 billion insects are killed each year by public lighting, either dying from exhaustion or being eaten by predators.”