12.1 Dispelling blue light source

Description

What does this measure refer to and what is its objective?

This measure refers to lighting sources installed in places with high suicide rates. The aim is to influence the behaviour of suicidal people with the help of light sources (usually blue or white) which is expected to calm emotions or to alter the negative mood. It is worth noting that to date, scientific studies have only produced inconclusive results on the effectiveness of blue lights on people contemplating suicide.

Recommendations

Best practice and lessons learned

• Check the laws on human integrity in your country before making the plans.
• Check if you have a higher number of suicides during night time.

Warning points

Expected difficulties and issues you should pay attention to

• Lights should not be too intense in order to avoid blinding or distracting train drivers and interfering with railway signals installed on the tracks.
• Be aware that light pollution can cause acceptance risks with neighbours and nature conservation organisations. Communicate before installing. Maybe not to be used in rural nature areas because of light pollution.
• Impact of the spotlights for the people living in the direct environment could be an issue. For dispelling light sources there can be problems with national laws on human integrity.
• Effective only during night time at outdoor stations.

Observations

Other points that you should not forget

• Blue streetlights are believed to be useful in preventing suicides and street crime. This encouraged an increasing number of railway companies to install blue light-emitting apparatus at stations to prevent people from jumping in front of trains.
• It is expected that the effects are durable. Blue lights were first implemented in Japan in 2006 with reported positive results. This press article summarises the Japanese results.

Study results

Data or other evidence supporting the measure's effectiveness

• In Japan, introduction of blue LED lights at 11 stations resulted in 84% decrease in the number of suicides between 2000-2010 compared to other 60 stations without blue light (Matsubayashi et al., 2012).
• The installation of blue lights on platforms, even were they to have some effect in preventing railway suicides at night, would have a much smaller impact than previously estimated (Ichikawa et al., 2014).
• Visible light of short wavelength (blue light) may cause a photochemical injury to the retina, called blue-light hazard. This blue light hazard may come from the interaction of blue light with molecules constituting the retina or accumulating in the retina with age or in pathological conditions. Studies indicating a blue light hazard within the intensity range of natural light to the retina are based on animal experiments. The relevance of these experimental data for human pathological conditions is not very clear. In general, the probability that artificial lighting for visibility purposes induces any acute pathologic conditions is low (Kadotani et al., 2014).
• Other literature suggests that once a person has crossed the “decision-line”, it will require much more than a barrier or a blue light to stop them (Bhui et al. 2013).
• Blue lights have been implemented in Belgium at the end of 2014 at platform access areas and platform ends of 14 stations some of which are close to psychiatric institutions. INFRABEL is currently collecting data (8-year data) to evaluate the effect. Intermediate results are encouraging suggesting positive feedback from customers and staff and an overall -54% decrease in the number of suicides at these stations in 2019. Final results are expected in 2025.
• Blue lights have been installed at a number of stations by Network Rail in Great Britain however they have not seen any benefits to date.
• In 2019/2020 ProRail in the Netherlands has introduced blue lights at 2 stations and 4 level crossings. A first effect-analysis in 2022 reported a decrease in the number of suicides, but the uncertainty in the determined reduction is still too great to be called statistically significant. They will install these lights at about 5 locations in 2025 to provide more accuracy of the measured effect.
• A more general study on lighting interventions in train stations found indications of favourable responses from passengers, though these have been small effects (Ryan et al., 2022).
• A study on innovative lighting interventions highlighted 10 functionalities that are valuable to prevention (Hallewell et al., 2022).
• A survey carried out by the UIC TreSP-Network identified that of the 9 countries responding 5 were trialling blue lights, however where they were installed, technical specifications and armatures differed.