It is dark and rainy at Bømlo in November. And in the future it will get even darker. Vestland County Council will switch off street lights in several places in the island municipality for five hours at night. On weekdays from 11.30pm to 4.30am and at weekends from midnight to 5am. The savings will be NOK 750 daily, with an electricity price of NOK 1 per kilowatt-hour. With double the price, the county can save NOK 1,500 a day. – Then it will be a substantial sum in the long term, says Adrian Kasin, who is an electrical engineer in the Vestland county municipality. The aim is also to reduce light pollution. In the first instance, sections with little traffic have been selected. – I will probably experience somewhat reduced traffic safety, but I think he is acceptable. On the whole, I think the risk will be small, because there is very little traffic and light traffic here at night. PROPOSAL ABOUT SWITCHED BRIDGES: The county would consider turning off the lights on the Spissøy Bridge (pictured) and the Bømla Bridge, which are part of the Triangle Junction on the E39, but here the old lamps will be replaced by led lights with dimming early next year. Photo: Eli Bjelland / news Are young people afraid they won’t get home safely? People news meets are skeptical. – On the night of Saturday and Sunday there may be people out who may have drunk a little too much alcohol. It can be scary to meet them if they are not wearing reflectors and are visible, says taxi driver Pål Fjellanger. THE TAXI DRIVER: Pål Fjellanger fears that it may become unsafe with the road lights off at weekends. Photo: Eli Bjelland / news On the way to Moster, Torbjørn Hammersland jogs past. He works as a secondary school teacher, and agrees that dark roads are a problem at weekends. – At weekends, there is traffic both from the house of worship and parents who are going to pick up young people outside. Many young people are also out driving at night at weekends. In the plan, the county will also consider whether they can switch off lights in areas close to the center and other municipalities in Sunnhordland. JOGGING: At weekends, there can be quite a few people on the road also at night, according to Torbjørn Hammersland. Photo: Eli Bjelland / news The county costs over NOK 60 million this year Electricity costs for street lights in Vestland have increased from NOK 35 million last year to over NOK 60 million this year. Several counties struggle with sky-high bills. Agder county expects to spend NOK 23.6 million on streams along the vegan route this year. That is 9 million more than the original budget. They will sort out the extinguishing of certain sections, but say it requires the involvement of several professional circles and probably some political treatment. The reason is that the consequences can be negative for those who use the sections. Rogaland has not considered turning off road lights, because they do not know how it affects traffic safety. They already have dimming on newer road lighting systems, and the electricity consumption on these has been halved. Last year’s expenses were a total of 30 million. This year they will be over 40 million. In Oslo, for the time being, they have only reduced the use of winter lights in the trees, but are considering several measures to save energy. From January to September this year, the electricity bill was 26.6 million. For the whole of 2021, they paid 23 million. Inlandet has spent more than twice as much money on street lights this year compared to last year. They don’t turn off the lights themselves, but say municipalities that operate lights along the county roads have taken action. This applies, among others, to the municipality of Hamar, which turns off the lights for a few hours every night, according to the county. In Vestfold and Telemark, they have cut electricity consumption by 9 per cent by installing more LED lights, which can be dimmed. The expenses this year will nevertheless be more than 7 million higher than last year due to high electricity prices. TRAFFIC POINT: The lights in Gassasundet at Bømlo were part of the plan, but here the lights are still not switched off at night. This happens after input from the municipality. Photo: Eli Bjelland / news – Must have political discussion Research shows that road lights on average reduce the number of personal injury accidents in the dark by 21 per cent, and the number of accidents with fatalities and serious injuries by 49 per cent, according to the Transport Economics Institute (TØI). – There will be a trade-off between power saving and traffic safety, and whether pedestrians and cyclists will still dare to go outside, says Alena Høye, who is a researcher on traffic safety at TØI. – The question is how much risk you are willing to expose the residents to in order to save money. This is according to Sigbjørn Framnes (Frp), who is a municipal and county politician, and a member of the main committee for transport in Vestland county. He believes that the plan to switch off road lights must be dealt with politically, and has been promised a briefing at the next meeting of the committee, 16 November. – By increasing the risk of accidents, there must be a substantial pot of money that is saved. SURPRISED: Sigbjørn Framnes (Frp) believes the county politicians must deal with the measure before the lights are turned off. Photo: Eli Bjelland / news Has received several alarm reports Municipal director Kjetil Aga Gjøsæter in Bømlo first became aware of the plan through the media. He still thinks that night extinguishing is a good idea. – We are positive about participating in such a project, which has both an environmental perspective and a cost perspective. We think that the money that the county council saves here can be used for other traffic safety measures. Over the next ten years, Vestland will replace old road lights with led lights that can be dimmed, and the night-time switching off will be completed when they are in place. Both the county and Bømlo municipality say they will keep a close eye on the consequences of dark roads, and they have already received several reports of concern. – We have received assurances that they can end the measure if it increases the risk, says Gjøsæter. – How do you measure increased risk? – We will have our own people out, and will also have a dialogue with the residents who walk, cycle and drive in these areas. I will pass on these recordings. Beyond that, it is difficult to measure risk. RØYKSUND: On this stretch, the road lights must be switched off for five hours every night. Photo: Eli Bjelland / news
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The risk of fatal accidents is increasing – news Vestland
