East Riding of Yorkshire’s Karl Rourke returned to Lighting Live Local Authority in February to update members on the conclusions of his innovative Live Labs 2 highway decarbonisation pilot project. This is an abridged version of his presentation
I can’t believe another year has passed; I’ve spoken at Daventry now four years on the trot, discussing Live Labs 2. You will be glad to know now that the project has come to an end.
So, this is about sharing some of the results of our work, and what we have learned. Live Labs 2, for those unaware is a Department for Transport funded £30m three-year research and innovation project.
It is aimed at profiling the embedded carbon of our highways, our highway assets, and highway operations from fence to fence. Our project in East Riding of Yorkshire is focused on ways to decarbonise street lighting.
To do this, we have focused on A roads and bypass routes, which custom and practice and various design guidance specifically require to be lit. Areas such as roundabouts, crossroads and priority junctions. We are asking the question: ‘do they actually need to be lit?’. Can we do that in different ways? And can we in the process reduce our carbon and financial burden?
We have a number of test sites across our two busiest A roads in East Riding, and a selection of test sites across the UK – in all 22 in East Riding and seven partner sites. For this project, it is not about flicking the light switch off or on; lighting will still be needed. We are simply looking at different definitions of who needs it.
AI-DRIVEN MONITORING
To do that, what we’ve done is replace the street lighting on our test site with a mix of solar-powered illuminated studs, markings, greater enhanced reflectivity signs, solar VAS (vehicle-activated speed cameras) and, in some areas, pedestrian-only lighting.
We’ve been monitoring these sites since they went live, from April of last year, using a thermal imaging AI driver-behaviour monitoring system. So, what have we found? Our results are split into four main categories: road safety, carbon reporting, cost and financial modelling, and supporting risk management and legal reports, with help coming from various specialist contractors in all these areas.
All our final reports will be published on the ADEPT website and our own website in the coming months. Looking first at road safety, our test sites went live on 4 April, 2025. Looking at data through to 7 January this year – so nine months following switch off but, crucially, covering seasonal variation and some of the darkest months of the year – overall the data has been positive.
We’ve seen some average night time speeds increase, on linear sections. Overall, across all conflict sites – with the exception of one arm into one specific roundabout – night-time speeds have reduced.
Over the nine-month period, in fact, we’ve seen average night-time speeds in these high-risk areas reduce or remain static, with no reduction in average daily flows. In fact, across half of the sites we’ve seen a small increase in average daily flows. Interestingly, we’ve also seen a decrease in over 50% of sites in average daytime speeds. In some locations, this could be attributed to the use of speed-activated VAS on high-speed approaches.
Nevertheless, our interventions may also be bringing daytime improvements. The impact of replacing lighting with our alternative visual design has had significant impact on roundabouts, with overall static or reduced levels of approach speeds. One of the most interesting outcomes of this data is the impact of our changes on some linear sections.
On these sections, we’ve installed a full suite of visual indicators, particularly the illuminated studs for lane delineation. We feel this is one of the factors that, on a couple of sites, we’ve seen the average speed actually increase. What we think we are observing is the driver retaining long-distance visibility of the orientation of the road, with clear visibility of other road users, particularly in front. Given the reduction in traffic volumes in the night-time period, the use of the studs on these linear sections is giving the driver confidence, if not more than they had from the street lighting.
That ability to understand, from distance, the orientation of the road and whether it is clear in front. We will test this theory over the summer, when we make amendments to various engineering on these sections. Potentially reverting back to reflective stubs to remove that long-distance understanding of the road orientation. Over the last summer, there were a lot of questions raised around how the approach would fare in rush-hour traffic and darkness.
REDUCED SPEED AND TRAFFIC VOLUMES
What we have actually observed through the data is a correlation between reduced driver speeds and traffic volumes. Average speed takes a significant dip across all test sites between 7am and 9am, and again between 4pm and 6pm, because of the sheer volumes of traffic. The number of safety-related events also reduces during those periods as drivers are essentially driving in a convoy situation. Significant speed increases on a few linear sections take place over the late night period, when usage has dropped to next to nothing. Conversely, however, the linear sections are the safest sections of road, according to the data and 10-year collision review. Very few accidents actually occur across these sections and we have not recorded one night-time incident since switch-off. Moreover, the speed increases we have seen still keep us within the designated speed limit for that section
In all, nine out of 12 sites have seen a decrease in mean speed during periods of daylight. Slightly fewer (seven out of 12) have seen a similar decrease in daylight. Roundabouts have seen the greatest speed reductions, with almost all roundabout arms reporting this.
Our 60mph single carriageway roads have, conversely, seen the biggest uptick in speed, at 7.65mph and 1.26mph respectively. We also looked specifically at the impact on driver speed, and on individual vehicle types. Taking as an example our dual carriageways with central reservation and active travel route either side, here we have installed pedestrian lighting.
In terms of the road user, this site has the full range of interventions – illuminated studs, improved lighting and signage. This site has not only seen pedestrian numbers increase since the installation of the pedestrian-specific lighting, it has also seen an overall reduction across all vehicle classifications in driver speed. Crucially, however, it is the impact it has had specifically on motorcyclists who, as we know, are one of the most vulnerable of all user groups.
Over night-time speeds for motorcyclists on what is essentially a straight piece of road have reduced by an average of 10%. This can have a significant bearing on the survival chances of any motorcycle user if they are directly involved in a collision. There is a wider pattern starting to emerge, too, we think, from the data we are seeing across our control sites in particular, where lighting is still present. We are beginning to see behaviour change across our regular travelling public.
Complaints have been minimal and quite easy to respond to when supported by data. For me, it is the overall reduction in speeds that we are seeing – across the piece. Speeds are down as a whole, while usage has remained constant. It is far too early to say right now – and we will be continuing to collect this data for at least another two years – but there is an inference starting to appear.
By changing driver speed habits across the night-time period, you’re actually changing driver speed habits as a whole. That I appreciate is a bold statement to put out. And it is yet to be born out by long-term data. But it is encouraging signs none the less.
PEDESTRIAN-ONLY LIGHTING
Our pedestrian-only lighting is the element of the project that has perhaps gathered the most interest. This lighting is designed specifically for pedestrians, providing lighting only on the width of the footpath carriageway and to give good visibility both on the footway and at distance for the user.
It is set at 1m to 5m mounting heights and is specifically designed to light only the footway or kerb edge. This is lighting designed for the people who use it, not a byproduct of lighting designed for vehicles that don’t always need it.
The public response has been positive. Night-time pedestrian numbers have increased across all test sites, and specifically in the now- infamous village of Hayton. It has brought around, again, some interest ing behavioural change. Prior to installing pedestrian lighting, and the lighting we have put in across the uncontrolled crossing point, residents were crossing this major A road carrying 18,000-plus vehicles a day anywhere they wanted to.
By lighting the crossing point against our dark carriageway we now see 100% crossing movements, both day and night, taking place at this specific crossing point. The feelings of night-time visibility have also transferred to daytime behaviour. Crucially, we have not seen any incidence of this affecting driver behaviour. Drivers understand it is their right of way; we have not had any driver stopping suddenly to allow pedestrians to cross. The residents of the village are hugely positive about it.
CONCLUSIONS
The project has gained huge momentum both within our sector and across the wider highways sector. We are currently working with two other local authorities to design lighting removal sites. Ultimately, we want this approach to become the default ‘business as usual’ option for everyone.
We have won various awards, including project of the year award at last autumn’s Highway Electrical Association Awards for our pedestrian lighting, all of which has been nice and an important validation. It seems a long time ago, but also just like yesterday, since I was first at Daventry announcing this Live Labs 2 project to the world. It has been exhausting, frustrating and fantastic in equal measure.
Karl Rourke is service manager, Street Lighting, Traffic Signals and CCTV, at East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Image: one of the East Riding of Yorkshire test sites, courtesy of Karl Rourke
This is an abridged version of the article that appears in the April edition of Lighting Journal. To read the full article, simply click on the page-turner to your right.
