A whole-year approach showing that ambient light level influences walking and cycling

Abstract

Many studies have used surveys to investigate the reactions to changes in lighting from people who walk or cycle. An alternative approach is to use objective data, specifically the number of pedestrians and cyclists present under different lighting conditions. Such data have been reported previously using a daylight savings transition approach. This paper presents a different method for analysing the effect of ambient light conditions in which data from the whole year are examined, rather than only the two weeks either side of the biannual daylight savings clock changes. The results confirm that ambient light has a significant impact: For a given time of day, more people walk or cycle when it is daylight than after dark and more people cycle on cycle trails and walk on foot paths after dark when they are lit than when they are unlit. While both methods use an odds ratio approach, which should account for environmental changes other than lighting, the results suggest the daylight savings method of analysis better isolates changes in weather from the effects of ambient light on travel choice than does the whole-year method.

Road lighting research for drivers and pedestrians: The basis of luminance and illuminance recommendations

“…150 Road lighting should aid the detection of pavement obstacles that might otherwise result in a fall, and the associated research has focussed on the ability to detect pavement irregularities such as a raised paving slab. This is important because falls on public footpaths are a significant problem in terms of the number of cases, the severity of the resulting injury and the national cost.…”

Uniformity Predicts Pedestrian Reassurance Better Than Average Illuminance

“…With the awareness that category rating evaluations are prone to response bias (Fotios, 2018) validation from alternative methods is required. With the assumption that greater reassurance results in more walking we have counted pedestrian flows to determine the influence of ambient light, finding that for a given time of day (and thus similar purposes of walking) there are greater numbers of pedestrians at higher levels of ambient light (Uttley and Fotios, 2017;Fotios et al, 2019) but this itself requires validation in a wider range of contexts.…”

The Influence of Road Lighting on Cyclist Numbers and Safety

“…The resulting odds ratio quantifies the effect of darkness on cycling rates, with a larger odds ratio indicating a greater reduction in cyclists associated with darkness. Fotios et al (2019) found an odds ratio for cyclists of 1.67, suggesting people were 1.67 times more likely to cycle during daylight than after-dark, after accounting for time of day and seasonal factors.…”

“…Previous research has demonstrated a link between ambient light levels and cycling rates Fotios et al, 2019). These studies used observational count data from the United States to assess the impact of darkness on the number of people cycling.…”

“…Reduced visibility contributes significantly to the increased collision risk for cyclists at night (Twisk & Reurings, 2013). Records of travel flow rates confirm that fewer people cycle when it is dark compared with daylight, even after accounting for the time of day and year Fotios et al, 2019) Lighting has potential to make cyclists feel safer, encourage them to cycle after-dark and reduce the risk of their involvement in an RTC, through increasing reassurance and visibility. Current lighting standards (e.g.…”