Evaluating the impact of street lighting configurations on the accuracy of pedestrian obstacle detection : findings from an onsite experiment

Wei, Lanlan (author), Bizjak, Grega (author), Kobav, Matej Bernard (author)

Street lighting serves to enhance pedestrian safety, such as by improving visibility and helping to detect obstacles at night, while also minimizing energy consumption to support sustainability goals. This study investigates the impact of lighting parameters—specifically horizontal illuminance and uniformity—on pedestrians’ ability to detect small obstacles, highlighting a critical consideration in designing urban lighting that ensures both safety and efficiency. Fifty-six observers performed detection tasks under 14 lighting conditions, each involving 14 lowreflectance (gray) obstacles measuring 20 × 20 × 20 mm. Detection accuracy plateaued when maximum, average, and minimum illuminance (Emax, Eave and Emin) reached 6.7 lx, 1.94 lx and 0.98 lx, respectively—indicating no additional benefit to obstacle detection beyond these thresholds. This plateau effect challenges conventional lighting practices that emphasize higher illuminance to enhance perceived safety. Instead, the findings support sustainable lighting strategies by identifying sufficient illuminance levels to ensure pedestrian safety while minimizing energy consumption and light pollution. This evidence aligns with global efforts to develop safer, more sustainable urban environments, demonstrating that optimized lighting design can meet safety standards without resorting to over-illumination.

• Language: English
• Keywords: street lighting, pedestrian obstacle detection, accuracy, urban environment, sustainability, urban planning
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 7 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 28, art. 107574
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-175342
• UDC: 628.9
• ISSN on article: 2590-1230
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rineng.2025.107574
• COBISS.SI-ID: 254614531
• Publication date in RUL: 24.10.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Results in engineering
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2590-1230
• COBISS.SI-ID: 529862681

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: javna razsvetljava, zaznavanje ovir za pešce, natančnost, urbano okolje, trajnostnost, urbano načrtovanje

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0356
• Name: Elektroenergetski sistemi