Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Financial savings <br /> <br />Home ) <br />- <br />News ) <br />About Urbis ) <br />Products <br />Services <br />Knowledge Base <br />Contact <br />Register <br />~ <br />lHIiQUH:,N'SAW.A:2D$ <br />fDa ENmIPRI5E: <br />NIDYATlDH <br />-. <br /> <br /> <br />U RBI S <br /> <br />+CID <br /> <br /> <br />Page 1 of 4 <br /> <br />Knowledge Base <br /> <br />Switch On. <br /> <br />Improved street lighting study highlights massive financial savings <br /> <br />The issue of how cost effective a new lighting scheme will be is of the utmost <br />importance for anyone in local government involved in the purchasing decision. This is <br />often a difficult question to answer, as so far it has been difficult to quantify the financial <br />savings that will be achieved. It is easier to compare savings achieved through <br />improved efficiency and reduced maintenance costs, as this can be recorded to the last <br />penny. However that does not nearly show all the financial implications of an improved <br />lighting scheme. <br /> <br />It is widely accepted that changing the lighting in residential areas will have some <br />impact on the local social environment, which could lead to changes in attitudes toward <br />offending. But so far it has been difficult to calculate how much crime would be <br />prevented from improving street lighting, and what the financial savings from those <br />prevented crimes would be. For this reason, we are glad that a very important piece of <br />work by Dr. Kate Painter and Professor David Farrington on evaluating crime <br />prevention through improved street lighting has had a positive outcome. <br /> <br />The study involved two research projects to investigate the effects of improved street <br />lighting on crime in Dudley and Stoke-on-Trent with the aim of comparing the financial <br />benefits deriving from reduced crimes. In Dudley, crimes decreased by 41 % in the <br />experimental area, compared with a 15% decrease in a control area. In Stoke, crimes <br />decreased by 43% in the experimental area and by 45% in two adjacent areas, <br />compared with a decrease of only 2% in two control areas. In the two projects, the <br />financial savings (from reduced crimes) exceeded the financial costs by between 2.2 <br />and 9.4 times after one year. The study concludes that improved street lighting can be <br />extremely cost effective. <br /> <br /> <br />http://www.urbislighting.com/switchon2_2 .php3 <br /> <br />The Dudley project <br /> <br />In Dudley, street lighting was <br />improved in an experimental <br />area and the results were <br />compared with a control area <br />in which lighting was not <br />improved. Victimisation <br />surveys were carried out in <br />both areas before and after <br />the improved lighting, to <br />assess the incidence of crimes <br />in the 12 months before and <br />12 months after. <br /> <br />The experimental areas were <br />chosen for re-lighting by local <br />authority engineers on the <br />basis of need. The street <br />lighting was in a bad state of <br />repair and had been the <br />subject of complaints from the <br />Tenants' Association. The <br /> <br />7/30/2002 <br />