Environment and roads

Domestic security lighting

Residents and businesses are all concerned about the security of their homes or properties. As such they tend to fit security lights to the outside of their properties to deter burglars. Unfortunately these lights often cause annoyance to others who live close by and in some cases cause a hazard to motorists as they can ‘blind’ the motorist if they are incorrectly set up and point along a highway.

Frequently an excessively bright lamp is fitted within these units, in general a 500 Watt lamp rather than a 150 Watt. It is not the case that a higher wattage lamp deters burglars, in some cases too much brightness can result in colours being washed out and details being hard to identify.

A security light should be sufficiently high both to light up the appropriate area and to be safe from tampering. A minimum of 2.4 metres (around 8 feet) is recommended. The light should be checked at night to ensure that the area illuminated by the light is the area that you require to be lit and no more. Light should not spill onto neighbouring property or onto the highway.

Sensors operate most security lighting, these should be preferably be separate to the lamp. The sensor should be mounted and adjusted to cover the area required and not operate if a person walks along an adjoining footpath.