We thank Mr Sharne Sulaiman for his views ‘Beware the effects of LED street lamps’ (The Straits Times, 5 January 2017), and assure Mr Sulaiman that our light-emitting diodes (LED) street lights are safe for road users.
 
We have also taken reference from the American Medical Association report. It supports the conversion of conventional lighting to LED as it reduces energy consumption, and the lighting components last longer than conventional lamps. It also noted that as more major cities make the conversion to LED street lights, it is important to ensure proper lighting design to nullify any potentially negative effects from LED lighting in their homes, offices and streets.
 
Similarly in Singapore, as we switch to LED street lights, we have made several provisions to ensure that our LED street lighting is safe for road users. First, the LED lighting is specifically designed to comply with a stringent set of industry standards that stipulates the allowable levels of blue light emission from the LED lights.
We have also designed our street lights to shine top-down, so as to minimise the glare from the LED lighting. In addition, shields would be installed to further minimise the impact that the glare from the street lighting may have on road users.
 
The implementation of LED lighting has many benefits. Based on the trials that LTA has conducted from 2010 to 2016, LED street lights are about 25 per cent more energy-efficient than current street lighting. In addition, LED lighting is more reliable and requires less frequent replacement, which helps conserve energy and reduce maintenance and manpower costs in the long run.
 
We thank Mr Sulaiman for the opportunity to clarify.
 

Mr Yao Chuan Sam 
Deputy Group Director, Road Operations 
Land Transport Authority