LED street lighting: a safe technology

No risk to your health

At the city’s request, the Direction régionale de santé publique du CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (the Centre-Sud public health department) studied the risks associated with the installation of LED street lighting. The report (in French) concludes that “the proposed conversion does not pose a risk to public health.”

No cybersecurity or privacy risks

The system that controls the LED streetlights does not monitor citizens, computer networks or private activities. It does not record video either.

This system only monitors and controls the operation of the light fixtures, their energy consumption and their brightness level.

Limiting the environmental impact

Studies show that LED lighting, like any other lighting, has a negative impact on certain species of animals, including turtles, bats and insects.

To protect these species, the city has identified ecologically sensitive areas and installed much more yellow lighting. This lighting meets the requirements of the Québec standard on light pollution control.

In some unbuilt environments, such as nature parks, artificial lighting is already limited: only building reception areas, parking lots, maintenance facilities and certain vehicular routes are lit.

For public lighting, the city has taken several actions to counter light pollution, particularly by favouring the use of “dark sky” type fixtures and by reducing lighting levels in public spaces.