Dimmer street lights won’t affect drivers

Lighting on new and retrofitted Abu Dhabi roads will not hamper vision, expert says

Lighting on new and retrofitted roads across Abu Dhabi will be dimmed to conserve energy, but this will not hamper drivers’ vision, Martin Valentine, lighting expert at the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, said yesterday.

“In 2011, new lighting regulations required sodium lamps in street lights to be replaced with LED fixtures resulting in road surface brightness being reduced by around 50 per cent on these roads. The changes introduced this year call for a further 33 per cent dimming on new road projects. Yet, this will not compromise road users’ safety in any way. Instead, there will be less eyestrain for drivers, reduced energy consumption and more pleasant-looking roads at night,” Valentine said.

The expert was speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the Middle East Smart Lighting and Energy Summit, where 250 delegates and government officials met to discuss the trends and challenges in the industry.

2011 regulations

In 2011, Abu Dhabi’s municipal sector regulator, the Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport (DMAT), issued new regulations on lighting of roads and public spaces.

One major element involved the replacement of conventional sodium lamps with LED fixtures, and as reported by Gulf

News last year, about Dh3 billion is expected to be saved as a result. These standards were updated by the DMAT this year.

In addition, sodium lamps also need to be changed about once every two years, compared with the 12-year average lifespan of an LED fixture.

“So, despite more than 20,000 hours of use over five years, not even one of the more than 5,600 light fixtures across the retrofitted Shaikh Zayed Street has failed so far,” Valentine said.

About 60,000 LED lights have so far been installed across the retrofitted Shaikh Zayed Street and tunnel, as well as in Khalifa City, Yas Island and the upcoming Al Mafraq interchange. In a newer development project in South Shamkha, the fixtures will also have the capacity to be dimmed.