Blue street lights

[hbarcat]

Some street lights, particularly in the upper Midwest and Canada, are turning a blue color as they age, when they're supposed to be white.

Streetlights Are Mysteriously Turning Purple. Here's Why

Newly purple streetlights might seem innocuous, but they could affect driver and pedestrian safety

www.scientificamerican.com

This appears to be due to a manufacturing defect at the source, a Chinese company that has been supplying LED street lights to certain markets in North America.

This is a picture that I took a few days ago of the street lights in the town where I work.

My understanding is that the lights are still under warranty and will be replaced I the next week or so.

Notice the yellowish white tinge of the oncoming car headlights and the normal color of the lights in the shops, compared to the purple blue of the streetlights.

This picture doesn't convey the eerie atmosphere these lights generate while driving on the street.

 

[shadowtippy]

Any changes in the red light district? Asking for a friend...

 

[Bent77]

I don’t have street lights. I consider it a benefit

I do have a cactus in my yard. It’s not blue either!

 

[Sam versus]

I see these all over the midwest. Can't stand them, wish they'd hurry up and get them fixed. Oh well, what can you do?

 

[TOOL460002]

Came to make a Wawa joke. Learned something instead.

 

[hbarcat]

I don’t have street lights. I consider it a benefit

I do have a cactus in my yard. It’s not blue either!

I used to live in an extremely isolated community in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where there were zero street lights and very little lighting of any kind.

After my evening shift at the bar, I'd quaff a few pints and then ride the two miles home on my bike in the darkness.

It's a hell of an experience trying to navigate by staring upwards while biking, using the contrast between the sky and the surrounding forest to determine where the road is, particularly when I was legally drunk.

One time I actually hit a deer. With my bicycle. I never saw it. I just plowed into it while it was standing in the middle of the road in complete darkness.

I wiped out and the deer clomped away.

Rode the rest of the way home with a bent wheel and handlebars on my expensive Cannondale, plus some horrible road rash on my arms and legs.

I miss those days.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

The purple color is caused by the phosphors attached to the LEDs disintegrating over time. We have a lot of them in my section of Maryland. There is even a special phone number setup to report them. Some people like them because they’re Ravens’ colors.

Here’s a video on it:

 

[TOOL460002]

I used to live in an extremely isolated community in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where there were zero street lights and very little lighting of any kind.

After my evening shift at the bar, I'd quaff a few pints and then ride the two miles home on my bike in the darkness.

It's a hell of an experience trying to navigate by staring upwards while biking, using the contrast between the sky and the surrounding forest to determine where the road is, particularly when I was legally drunk.

One time I actually hit a deer. With my bicycle. I never saw it. I just plowed into it while it was standing in the middle of the road in complete darkness.

I wiped out and the deer clomped away.

Rode the rest of the way home with a bent wheel and handlebars on my expensive Cannondale, plus some horrible road rash on my arms and legs.

I miss those days.

Those bikes are beefy! Yikes. Glad you're alive to tell the story.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

Deer do not know that our night vision sucks. Homie thought you'd veer eventually

 

[Avigdor]

It's a hell of an experience trying to navigate by staring upwards while biking, using the contrast between the sky and the surrounding forest

And here I was thinking that that is what lights on the bike are for... As a driver in similarly dark conditions in my neck of the woods in the UK I am in constant fear that I hit someone riding a bike without lights or reflectors in a black jacket and cause injury, simply because they are for all intents and purposes invisible...

 

[mmon77]

There are allot of them here in MN.

I originally decided they do this in support of Prince. I've since learned that isn't true, but I still like my original idea better.

I think they look cool, and get disappointed when they replace them.

 

[RattleSnack]

I used to live in an extremely isolated community in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where there were zero street lights and very little lighting of any kind.

After my evening shift at the bar, I'd quaff a few pints and then ride the two miles home on my bike in the darkness.

It's a hell of an experience trying to navigate by staring upwards while biking, using the contrast between the sky and the surrounding forest to determine where the road is, particularly when I was legally drunk.

One time I actually hit a deer. With my bicycle. I never saw it. I just plowed into it while it was standing in the middle of the road in complete darkness.

I wiped out and the deer clomped away.

Rode the rest of the way home with a bent wheel and handlebars on my expensive Cannondale, plus some horrible road rash on my arms and legs.

I miss those days.

Long time ago I used to ride motorcycle or scooter (what I had at the moment) through small nature park on the way home at night (kind of a shortcut). My favorite ride had this thing, when you switch from low beam to high beam, it had a pause of about 2 seconds with no light at all.
So, I am riding through dark forest with no streetlights, flip the switch, and for two seconds it's just total dark, sound of engine and wind in my face.
Of course, I was careful when I do this, only on clear straits and with no traffic but it would still get my adrenaline high.
Miss those days also.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Connecticut has seen a lot of defective LED street lights as well. The problem seems to mostly affect lights on interstate highways installed over the last few years.

 

[TheSeagoats]

In the Baltimore area we don't mind that they're turning purple

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

I knew it was the LEDs already going bad

But a friend once said “ITS THE 5G trying to mess with us”

 

[Dust2Dust]

And here I was thinking that that is what lights on the bike are for...

 

[MegaSwing]

That’s been an issue in the Baltimore area for awhile. I don’t see that many of them, but I suppose it IS nice to know what causes it and that they’ll be replaced. Somebody must be in big trouble over there.

 

[FugaziBomb]

Street... Lights? You'll have to excuse me, I live in New Hampshire

 

[Thumpin6string]

Funny, the first thing I noticed in you photo was the check engine light.

 

[richntiff]

I used to live in an extremely isolated community in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where there were zero street lights and very little lighting of any kind.

After my evening shift at the bar, I'd quaff a few pints and then ride the two miles home on my bike in the darkness.

It's a hell of an experience trying to navigate by staring upwards while biking, using the contrast between the sky and the surrounding forest to determine where the road is, particularly when I was legally drunk.

One time I actually hit a deer. With my bicycle. I never saw it. I just plowed into it while it was standing in the middle of the road in complete darkness.

I wiped out and the deer clomped away.

Rode the rest of the way home with a bent wheel and handlebars on my expensive Cannondale, plus some horrible road rash on my arms and legs.

I miss those days.

which community? I'm in Minocqua, which is an urban center as compared to most of the little towns around up here....