Impact of urban street lighting on road users’ perception of public space and mobility behavior

Abstract

Refitting public spaces with light-emitting diode (LED) technology in lieu of conventional luminaires bears the risk of compromising lighting quality that road users have already adapted to; this is because the LED technology has been well tested indoors, but it has not been necessarily evaluated outdoors. Further insight into the effects of street lighting on road users is necessary to resolve potential deficiencies of available technologies. This study compares the effects of three different lighting scenarios (conventional lighting, state-of-the-art LED, optimized LED) on road users via surveys (N = 598 persons) and observations (N = 1341 persons) in the city of Vienna. In terms of the uniformity of street illumination and the comfort it provides, the results show the positive effects of LED street lighting both on surveyed pedestrians and vehicle drivers. The observations of pedestrian walking behavior revealed an unexpected result—no significant differences were noted apart from a more centric walking path along the sidewalk under LED illumination, particularly with the optimized LED luminaire.