The Massachusetts Medical
Society is in support of these identical bills that would limit excess lighting
produced by state-funded outdoor lighting.
Much of the light generated by roadway and security lighting never
achieves its intended purpose. It never
lights anyone’s way, or produces any security, visibility, or guidance to
anyone. Instead, it shines straight up
into the sky. In contrast, well-designed
lighting illuminates the ground without the overuse of energy and without being
a burden or a nuisance to the environment or other people and property. The most straightforward means to create a
glare-free nighttime environment is to utilize fully-shielded lighting fixtures which emit all of their light
downward (below the horizontal) and none of it directly up into the sky.
While there are significant
energy savings and environmental advantages to adopting fully shielded lighting
fixtures, the Massachusetts Medical Society is particularly concerned about the
medical and safety implications of the current unfettered outdoor
lighting. Poorly designed lighting
causes harsh glare that blinds and distracts drivers, especially in bad weather
and for drivers with poor visibility – this disparately affects our older
patients, particularly those with cataracts.
Thus, many individuals are faced with the choice of driving under unsafe
conditions or severely limiting their mobility at night due to unnecessary and
easily preventable glare. This bill
would be a positive step in remedying this problem.
This bill would encourage
energy-efficient lighting practices throughout the Commonwealth by requiring
state-funded projects to use fully-shielded exterior lighting in new or
replacement installations, and to install that lighting only where it is
needed. These steps will result in
lowered energy consumption and less glare. It would not add to project costs,
because well-designed, fully-shielded lighting is now commonly available from a
wide range of manufacturers.
We urge the Committee to act favorably
on H.2692/S.1833.
