The city of Montreal has seen the light - it will go ahead with its LED street lighting plan but using lower intensity lights.
Montreal mayor Denis Coderre said they had to take a time out to look at the impact of the harsher blue lights and decided to go with lower intensity - and slightly more expensive - 3000 Kelvin LED lights instead of the 4000 Kelvin ones, which can affect the eyes and sleep habits. Coderre said they had to consider several factors.
"I don't want to have more lights in night(time) than in day(time) so we have to be careful about that," said Coderre.
"What strikes me at the beginning is the matter of health but it's a matter of security at the same time. We want to make sure (at) crossroads and parks that people will have the capacity to feel secure."
Nearly 2000 streetlights with regular lightbulbs have already been converted to 4000 Kelvin lights and most will switch over to 3000 K. The rest will stay as a pilot project. A smart system will adjust the lights as needed. The city says the LED lights will save them money in the long run in terms of cost and efficiency. It'll cost about $110-million to replace 132,000 streetlights over five to six years starting this year.