This week on Highways Voices, Alastair King, Head of SolarLite, launches the SolarLite Local Authority Impact Challenge. Three sites put forward by local authorities will be selected to receive hundreds of active road studs, supplied and installed at SolarLite’s expense to make their roads safer and reduce the cost of street lighting, light pollution and carbon emissions.
Mr King explains what kinds of problem locations he wants councils to nominate, from unlit collision hotspots to roads where ageing street lighting is costly to maintain.
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The challenge opens on 1 October through LCRIG and runs until December. The three selected authorities are due to hear before Christmas, with installations planned between January and March. Alastair King is deliberately keeping the invitation broad: councils can put forward a junction, a roundabout or a stretch of road if they believe active studs could make a measurable difference.
In today’s interview, he also explains why the competition is about evidence as much as equipment. SolarLite, a Clearview Intelligence company, wants to gather data before and after each installation, giving authorities a clearer picture of the effects on safety, lighting costs and carbon emissions.
The conversation draws on East Riding of Yorkshire’s Live Labs 2 project, where active studs formed part of a trial involving the removal of street lighting on selected roads. Alastair discusses the project’s findings and the questions other councils should ask before considering a similar approach. He is clear that street lighting still has a role, particularly at junctions and other locations where it is needed.
If you work on road safety, manage lighting assets or specify highway schemes, listen to hear how to enter the challenge, what makes a useful submission and why Alastair King believes the humble road stud deserves a place much earlier in design decisions.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
(Picture – Clearview)
