I believe many partners should have the same experience. At night, when driving on the highway, they can only see the dark black surrounding them. Except for the headlights and reflective signs on the road, basically no other lights can be seen. Why are there no street lights on the highway? Is it safer to have street lights?

Highways are usually not equipped with street lights, except for important bridge decks and tunnels. Let’s analyze why highways are not equipped with street lights.

Higher road safety factors
Dear friends, do you see pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles coming and going at night like they are on city streets? No! Since highways do not allow pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, motorcycles, tractors, and tricycles are not allowed. It’s impossible to get on an 80-yard car in 15 seconds.

The installation of street lights is not for the safety and convenience of vehicles (because vehicles have headlights), but for the safety and convenience of non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians. However, the service functions of highways and urban roads are different. Urban roads are not only car traffic, but also non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians are dense, so there are street lights; highways are roads outside cities that connect cities and cities, urban and rural areas, and there are almost no non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians. Therefore, there are no street lights on ordinary highways.

In addition, the road surface is very smooth, there are no obvious pits, the road conditions remain good, and the safety factor is high.

Reflective road signs to meet demand
Is it safer and more convenient for drivers to install street lights on the highway? The answer is no.

Street light lighting is discontinuous and uneven. For drivers of high-speed vehicles, the alternation of light and dark can cause visual errors (illusions), which is very dangerous. In addition, it can cause eye strain quickly. In addition, the poor lighting of the street lights, the scattered light when driving for a long distance will make the driver dazzled and confused, causing hidden dangers to driving safety.

Without street lights, what should drivers do on the highway at night?

When external lighting is insufficient, car headlights can provide safer lighting for the driver. Because there are no obstacles to the upcoming car, you can drive the high beam at night (this friend must be very experienced). This is why some drivers like to turn on the headlights (high beam lights) even when driving on bright city streets (of course, this is bad driving habits).

Vehicles travel at night, perfect road signs and reflective signs can fully meet the needs. At night, under the strong light of the car’s headlights, the reflective film on the traffic sign will directionally reflect the light, illuminate the road, and can clearly reflect various traffic signs into the driver’s eyes, which is sufficient to complete the function of the car . Direction guidance.

Cost is not low and management is troublesome
The total mileage of the total highway is tens of thousands of kilometers, and the installation of street lights on the entire section must be a huge expense. In addition, the randomness of the traffic flow on the expressway is too strong. Installing street lights for a small number of cars throughout the production line is bound to cause huge energy waste. In addition, highways cross the whole province, and the segmented power supply and management of each section is also a problem.

In short, installing street lights on highways is not necessarily scientific and energy efficient.