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Lord knows if I were emperor or whatever, I would have some fairly draconian laws on the books, with hefty fines, about so many light sources. I can walk aroun
by at_a_remove 6y ago
Lord knows if I were emperor or whatever, I would have some fairly draconian laws on the books, with hefty fines, about so many light sources. I can walk around at night and read a paper books. It's easy. Some places, I feel like the going standard is "can someone perform open heart surgery on this stretch of road?"
A lot of it is a race to the bottom -- look at my sign! Sure, my business is not open right now, but I have a sign! Advertising alone is a huge detriment to the light pollution landscape.
Much of it comes from misguided "this will be safer" concerns. And so half the neighborhood has these floodlights installed above their doors that will be on all night, plus little solar lights everywhere. Oftentimes, they're positioned so poorly that it actually makes seeing people walking around more difficult, due to having these things shine away in my eyes.
- meristohm 6y agoTucson, Arizona has laws to limit light pollution out of consideration for the nearby observatories. I remember bicycling along roads and the lights turning off intermittently. Great to be able to see the stars at night, though; I’d much rather that than lighting all the things.
- rootusrootus 6y agoOne of my particularly patriotic neighbors has a big US flag atop a pole in his front yard. And he's following flag code, making sure that since he leaves it up at night it is properly lit. With a couple great big floodlights aimed straight up at it from the ground.
- macintux 6y agoI was driving down the highway at night a few years ago, before digital billboards were as common here. I saw one with a dark background that I was struggling to read, but then it transitioned to a different ad with a bright white background. Instantly blinded. I was fortunate there weren’t a lot of cars around, because it took a few seconds to be able to see clearly again.
- dawnerd 6y agoI don't understand how digital billboards are legal. They're way too bright for night driving.