Road lighting and pedestrian reassurance after dark. A review of the evidence

Road lighting is installed in residential areas is to increa se pedestrians’ reassurance, their confidence when walking after dark, which in past studies has been expressed as perceived safety or fear of crime. This article reviews past studies of road lighting and pedestrian reassurance to enable better understand ing of whether lighting is effective, and of whether variations in illuminance and lamp type, are effective at improving reassurance. This review presents evidence that road lighting increases feelings of reassurance after dark, that higher illuminance inc reases this reassurance (and that it may be possible to identify a plateau to this effect) and that a higher S/P ratio enhances reassurance.