Laois - Kildare motorway junctions to be left in the dark with light switch off

An Ri rua

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/motoring/323993/laois-kildare-motorway-junctions-to-be-left-in-the-dark-with-light-switch-off.html#.W1AyZ_YVq5E.link

Is this not a crazy move?

Jack Moore

An Ri rua wrote: »

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/motoring/323993/laois-kildare-motorway-junctions-to-be-left-in-the-dark-with-light-switch-off.html#.W1AyZ_YVq5E.link

Is this not a crazy move?

The wierd thing about driving in the east of the country is how bright the roads are; my car has lights on the front so I can see in the dark.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

denismc

I never understood the need for these lights in the first place, unless its a junction with a lot of pedestrian traffic.
There are thousands of traffic junctions around the country without lights that seem to work ok.

markpb

denismc wrote: »

I never understood the need for these lights in the first place, unless its a junction with a lot of pedestrian traffic.
There are thousands of traffic junctions around the country without lights that seem to work ok.

I suspect people aren't driving at 120kph through those junctions though!

The last paragraph of that article contains an important nugget of information:

It is their plan to turn off the lights on the main motorway dual carriageway section of the road at these junctions and not on the slip road entrances/exits to the motorway or the roundabouts or the bridges over the junctions.

denismc

markpb wrote: »

I suspect people aren't driving at 120kph through those junctions though!

I would be a little worried about people driving through any junction at 120 kmph!

All cars have lights, these create a contrast against a dark background.
By lighting up the background, you reduce the contrast thus making the cars less visible.
Drive down any unlit road at night and you will spot a car from a long way off.

magicbastarder

denismc wrote: »

I would be a little worried about people driving through any junction at 120 kmph!

do people slow down for motorway junctions?
i don't drive at 120 on motorways, more like 100, but i don't slow down. the junctions are designed so you don't have to.

Riskymove

magicbastarder wrote: »

do people slow down for motorway junctions?
i don't drive at 120 on motorways, more like 100, but i don't slow down. the junctions are designed so you don't have to.

I think the point might be that there are not any junctions on motorways

there are slip roads, which will remain lighted for traffic exiting/merging

it is the main motorway sections that will have no lighting

AlekSmart

Gallant little Belgium has led the (illuminated) way for decades.....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39900940

plodder

Light is pollution in the countryside.

LionelNashe

I trust the experts in this kind of thing, but I'm curious, why just the junctions and not the stretches in between the junctions as well?

Bray Head

AlekSmart wrote: »

Gallant little Belgium has led the (illuminated) way for decades.....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39900940

They also have two nuclear power stations that need something to do at nighttime.

Isambard

I can never understand the need for lights in Tunnel sections and indeed speed limits , they are just roads with roofs on and no darker than a road with no roof on in the dark.

magicbastarder

lights in tunnels make more sense than lights on open roads; you generally don't drive from daytime into nighttime in an instant, so your eyes have plenty of time to adjust. not so in tunnels.

An Ri rua

Two points:-

The M7 is in the East. And in the Midlands. Unless you consider Newbridge the Midlands. More East, to my Midlands mind.
Unless you have directional lights, your headlights won't keep you as safe as you think on dark country roads. Granted, the point I raised was motorway intersections.
Time will tell whether its best practice or sharp practice/budget saving and what the public and commuters on these routes feel.
With all of the fog that's so endemic on the M7, extra lighting is a bonus, I feel. There have been deaths associated with M7 drivers hitting road divisions.
Time will tell if your headlight fallback proposition saves lives or costs lives.

Alkers

LionelNashe wrote: »

I trust the experts in this kind of thing, but I'm curious, why just the junctions and not the stretches in between the junctions as well?

The stretches between the junctions are not currently lit, except for on the M50

G_R

Is this not the norm across Europe? Admittedly I haven't been on a motorway in Belgium but from memory France and i think Spain have pretty dark motorways. If it saves money and doesn't impact safety then why not.

Del2005

An Ri rua wrote: »

With all of the fog that's so endemic on the M7, extra lighting is a bonus, I feel. There have been deaths associated with M7 drivers hitting road divisions.
Time will tell if your headlight fallback proposition saves lives or costs lives.

I've found that with the swap to White LED street lights they are terrible in fog, all you see is a white haze. At least with the yellow lights they cut through the fog, no idea why they don't spec orange/yellow LEDs for street lights.

cgcsb

We're switching to electric cars, building massive power hungry data centres and building new apartments heated only by electricity. We've also NO plans in place as to how we're going to fuel this radical growth in electricity consumption other than an undersea cable to France to import French nuclear power.

Until politicians decide how we're going to power our electric future, we're just going to have to rationalize usage. More efficient homes, more micro generation on domestic scale and of course switching the lights off.

liamog

If every Irish driver switched to an EV that used 20kWh/100km and continued to do the same average distance as now, we'd need to add 2,335 MW to the Irish Grid.

The gap between day and overnight usage is already 1,000 MW so realistically we're talking about an extra 1,500 MW of production needed. The 20kWh/100km is also very conservative, most EVs are more efficient than that.

Adding that level of demand is a good customer for offshore wind, and would help ensure viability.

cgcsb

liamog wrote: »

If every Irish driver switched to an EV that used 20kWh/100km and continued to do the same average distance as now, we'd need to add 2,335 MW to the Irish Grid.

The gap between day and overnight usage is already 1,000 MW so realistically we're talking about an extra 1,500 MW of production needed. The 20kWh/100km is also very conservative, most EVs are more efficient than that.

Adding that level of demand is a good customer for offshore wind, and would help ensure viability.

Offshore wind will require a subsidy and we have no economic storage methods available to make wind off shore or onshore a reliable source for the growing demand. We have a grid connection to France in 10 years time which will allow us buy/sell our wind.Fench nuclear but that's regressive in terms of energy independence and adds pressure to the French grid they won't take kindly to that.

If there were a government policy on the issue i.e. subsidies for large scale off shore and large scale storage (e.g. the silvermines project) we'd have certainty and security, but at the minute all we can do is conserve power and wait for government to form a workable policy.