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The blue public lighting would reduce the crimes and suicides

The blue public lighting would reduce the crimes and suicides

March 5, 2024

The field of criminology seeks, day by day, to be up-to-date on all factors and preventive measures that prevent or reduce the crime that plagues the streets and endangers public safety. That is why in some countries, several agencies that watch over safety and prevention have opted to change their street lighting to one of blue color . The reason for this change is that, apparently, there are already several empirical results that suggest that the streets lit with this type of light report a notable decrease in crime.

Here we detail this rare but important discovery.

The blue light seems to prevent suicide and crimes

Already in the year 2000, the Scottish city of Glasgow He tried to change the color of the light emitted by streetlights . The experiment allowed some of the busiest avenues of that city to acquire different visual nuances, thanks to the change of traditional white, orange or yellow lights for lights with blue tones. On that occasion, however, only an aesthetic purpose was pursued.


A casual discovery, in Glasgow

However, with the passage of a few weeks, the authorities realized that in those regions where the blue light was placed there was a considerable decrease in crimes and suicides. This discovery quickly became a legislative proposal aimed at reducing crime on public roads and was adopted and applied in other countries, although at that time there was no scientific evidence or conclusive studies linking this phenomenon with blue light.

For example, in the year 2005, the city of Tokyo, Japan decided to implement this strategy in some of its streets, placing headlights with blue light and amazingly, Japanese authorities reported a 9% decrease in crime in those areas . Subsequently, a Japanese railway company called Central Nipoon Expressway began installing in 2013 panels led type to project light of that color, in order to make those who attempt to commit suicide by throwing themselves on the tracks desist. Those responsible for this change ensure that, after several years, this measure has reduced suicide attacks by 20%. Chance?


Studies and hypothesis

Although the decrease in crime seems to be directly related to public blue light, there are still no scientific results that conclusively support this theory .

As Tsuneo Suzuki, a professor at Keio University, points out, "There is still a lot of data to be analyzed in order to know what relationship exists between blue lighting and its" calming effect "that it causes on people. What is clear is that lights in blue are unusual. This way people can feel strange and avoid standing out, crimes and suicides descend with this type of illumination. There are many investigations related to color psychology, and one of them investigated the blue light of short wavelength. It has proven to be a potentially effective treatment for seasonal affective disorders (a type of depression linked to the change of time). If there are new investigations that support the benefits of blue lighting, we could find a fantastic find. A cheap change that can help reduce crime rates in the areas, as well as suicide cases "


Other psychological effects of the color blue

The blue light is also attributed another series of features and benefits:

1. It can cause insomnia

A study by Steven Lockey, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School demonstrated that being exposed to blue light causes decreased sleep and even insomnia since this light suppresses the synthesis of melatonin, which is the sleep hormone

2. Increase heart rate and memory

Gikes Vandewalle, researcher at the University of Montreal, found that blue light increases heart rate and improves memory , since using encephalograms he observed that a person exposed to this light performed memorization tasks more efficiently since the responses of the frontal and parietal cortex improved.

3. Improves learning

According to a German chronobiologist, Dieter Kunz, by increasing the amount of blue in artificial light we could increase performance and learning capacity both in schools and in offices and other places of work in enclosed spaces. It could even improve the health of patients in hospitals.

Psychology of blue color

It is worth remembering that among the positive qualities in the psychology of the blue color we find that It is a kind, friendly color and that usually inspires us confidence . It is a color that almost everyone likes and is the color that we most associate with friendship, harmony and trust. It also represents the color of the divine and the eternal since we associate it with the color of the sky. The continuous experience is also associated with this color, it is the color of everything we want to remain and everything we want to be eternal. It is one of the colors most associated with peace (after the target) since, for example, the UN flag is of that color, as well as that of the helmets of its peace troops.

It is highly probable that in the future in-depth investigations will be carried out to verify, for sure, the link between the presence of blue lighting and the reduction of crimes. This would offer a scientific basis and would make an important change in all our streets.


Can blue lights make Britain's railways safer? (March 2024).


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