Energy-efficient LED lights pose safety risk in bad weather
Posted Dec 24, 2009 02:38:36 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HRM’s newly installed LED traffic lights are causing concern as they might be a hazard for motorists during snow and ice storms – and if the Halifax Regional Municipality can’t find a solution it might have to replace the devices.
The LED lights are meant to save the HRM money on its power bill, as they don’t use as much power as the older lights. But city crews discovered during snowstorms that the devices become covered with snow, making the light hard to see.
Mayor Peter Kelly says it’s because the LED lights don’t generate the same kind of heat as the old signal lights, so the snow doesn’t melt as quickly.
“Depending upon the direction of the snow blow, they do stick on the lights longer than the ones that do provide heat,” Kelly told News 957. “Staff is monitoring, and are out there cleaning after storms. It’s one thing that we’re very mindful. We’ll have to keep an eye on it.”
Municipal staff is concerned the lights could create dangerous intersections. The LED lights are blamed for several accidents and at least one death in the United States. The high-tech traffic lights have been installed at 160 of the 250 intersections across metro.
