In the summer of 2023, a strong storm suddenly left Barcelona in the dark and put cyclists at risk during the start of the Vuelta a España, which was taking place from the Catalan capital. At the time, the City Council explained that it could not act because the darkness was "unforeseen" and because a significant part of the system was very rigid and could only be turned on early manually. Now this situation can no longer happen again: since this summer, all the city's lights can be controlled remotely with a single switch.

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.