LED traffic lights don’t cause accidents, do save lives and energy

After an Illinois drive was killed by a car running a snow-covered red LED traffic light, a number of blogs and newspapers ran headlines such as LED traffic lights don’t melt snow, do cause accidents.

But in fact, LED traffic lights save lives. LEDs are up to four times brighter than incandescents and can be seen in bright sunlight as well as foggy conditions. Even more importantly, they last up to ten times longer than incandescents, so the danger of a burnout is greatly reduced.

So it’s a shame that these headlines based on a single unfortunate incident may discourage some holdouts from switching to LEDs that would actually save lives and energy. Switching to LEDs can cut energy costs by more than 80 percent, saving almost $600 per year in power per intersection. Portland, Oregon, for example, is saving $380,000 per year in energy and reduced maintenance.

Bill Kloos, Portland’s Signals and Streetlighting Manager, said, “The LEDs have reduced transportation maintenance costs by $45,000 a year in off-hour call out costs and replacement bulbs. LED modules have a life of six years or more while the current bulbs have only a two-year life. In addition, we’ve been able to save 1,400 hours of valuable staff time per year previously used for group relamping and apply that time to other maintenance needs.”