17 November (Part 2) - Bexley’s LED street lamps are not as bright as Sodium, no one can deny it
When Bexley first installed
LED street lamps in Welling I drove around after
midnight and couldn’t believe how dim they were. True the roads were unfamiliar
to me but I found driving there really difficult.
The sodium lamps in my own road were removed soon afterwards and it was
immediately apparent that my front door was in comparative darkness and my back
garden was getting no light at all and until then it was illuminated quite well.
I suppose that is a good thing, why should I expect Bexley Council to be
illuminating my flower beds at night?
I have grown to quite like the things but let no one tell you they are brighter
than before. I know that is what Bexley Council has been saying but like most
things they say it simply isn’t true.
I have an email from Bexley Council confirming that the output of the LEDs is
less than half of the sodium lamps. My camera exposure meter agrees.
Council Leader Teresa O’Neill is on the record as
saying that people come up to her
and thank her for the new lights, do people really go up to her for anything let along lamp posts? One of
my correspondents doesn’t think so and conducted a quick poll of residents in his street.
I read recently that one of our council members had received good comments from a number of people about the new LED lights. I have
spoken to many of my neighbours and cannot find anyone who is remotely interested in them, let alone impressed by the things.
I went out during the evening rush and found it difficult to see the kerb as I was driving against the oncoming
car head lights on the other side of the road.
I understand that another local borough is finding that their new LED lights are failing already. My own
experience in my own home is that LED lights fail in less than a year, not the 15 - 20 years they are supposed to last.
Is that true? I bought some LED lamps in 2008 to go in what was then a new kitchen but never got around to installing them. Not bought any since.
I have a lifetime’s supply of tungsten lamps stashed away in the loft.