Driving at night can be quite dangerous as it is, but the Highways Agency has said that to cut costs the Department of Transport is turning off the lights on sections of some motorways late at night.

For example, the M1 will be plunged into darkness from midnight to 5am between junctions 10 and 13.

The Highways Agency director explained, “Since 2009 we've switched lighting off between the hours of midnight and 5am on 14 carefully-selected stretches of motorways and evidence so far indicates that switching off the lights hasn't had an impact on safety.

“In March this year we also began permanently switching off motorway lights at three sites.

"This is not about wishing to remove all lights from the motorway network. It's about carefully identifying the locations where, under the revised guidelines, we would no longer install lighting.

“The money saved could then be used for other measures on the strategic road network where it would have a more significant safety benefit and potentially save more lives.”

Still, a lot of people are worried that there are many safety issues with turning off the lights on these roads which contain fast-moving traffic.

If you have to go on the motorway when part of its lights have been turned off, just be prudent, and keep driving safely and considerately, and all should be well.

Labels: Department of Transport, driving, Highways Agency, junctions, lights, motorway