The other day I got scared. I was walking home at night, and as I turned a corner, the street lit up as if it had been daylight. A second later, it was already dark again, and suddenly I was dazzled again. The whole street was flashing on and off, because over the door of a pharmacy, they had just installed a flashing cross that shone like the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Was all that lighting necessary? It wasn't a dark street; it wasn't as if the pharmacy was any less visible at night than during the day. And I wasn't even on guard duty.
Am I the only one who's outraged by the aggressiveness of these gratuitous flashing signs? To me, they simply signal rudeness and disrespect, and highlight the lack of awareness of light pollution among those responsible for allowing them, or worse, promoting them.
When something from the administration is absurd or incomprehensible—misguided public concrete in abundance, inexplicable permits, subsidies, or roundabouts, useless procedures, a general blackout—we tend to console ourselves with the thought that at least someone will make a profit. But we often wonder: what if it was pure neglect or incompetence? The world is best understood in the details. And isn't this recent delight in little lights—also drone festivals, mappings, and all kinds of artificial light fishing—yet another downward leveling, encouraged from above?
Let's look at the roads, and especially at the streets, especially in tourist spots. Over the years, obsolete signs, redundant signals, and other contraptions have accumulated, all of which, to attract attention, must compete with each other and become increasingly conspicuous. The latest trend is flashing lights, which must be powerful enough to be visible during the day. In my city, we already have flashing signs prohibiting trucks, flashing signs emphasizing the speed limit, flashing signs warning of zebra crossings, in some cases with a row of flashing lights embedded in the asphalt... It's like a disco. And then there are the light signals that tell you how fast you're going and draw a horrible smiling or angry face on you, as if you were a small child. Or the new animal danger warnings on the N-II in Tordera, with flashing flashes powerful enough to scare not the animals but the drivers. Now, at night, I try to take another road, even if it's longer.
The effects of rapid, intense light flashes have been studied. They are harmful to young people, especially those with epilepsy and autism, but also to any animal or person with a modicum of common sense and a love of natural light.
