The Impact of Insufficient Street Lighting on Public Safety in

Barangay Bato-Bato

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

According to annual global road crash statistics, somewhere around 1.3

million people die in road crashes every year, which means

approximately 3,287 deaths per day. These stats are self alarming in
nature and it becomes extremely crucial to have long lasting and good

quality street lights.

In the Philippines, insufficient street lighting is also a problem

because it leads to crime and accidents that endanger the safety of the

community in Manila. According to the late President Joseph Estrada,

he wanted the entire city lit up, from major thoroughfares to barangay

streets, as an anti-crime measure at night and as part of the capital city’s

urban renewal and beautification program. One basic requirement for a

peaceful, crime-free community is lighting, and street lighting in

particular. This is because a well-lit place discourages the commission

of crime. And towards this end, the mayor trained his sights. Adequate

and working street lights also promote business and tourism, as

residents and officials of any big city in the world will testify.

The insufficient street lighting on public safety in the

Barangay Bato-Bato has been the conundrum of many people in each

Purok because it increases the fear of people going outside at night due

to the fear of crime or accidents that might happen because of the lack

of lights in the streets. Mostly, crime happens in dark places. The

adding of street lights may help us to have a safe and peaceful trip

without worrying that something bad might happen. These are all

important determinants of health and well being: directly in the case of

road safety; and indirectly, in that fear of crime, for instance, has

multiple pathways that impact on mental health (Lorenc et al., 2012).

Street lighting must not be ignored because it can lead to fatalities

and loss of property as well. Having quality street lights does not only

serve the purpose of safety in the urban areas, but they also have a huge

impact on our standard of living.

Research objectives

This study aimed to determine the Impact of insufficient street

lighting on public safety in Barangay Bato-Bato; specifically it seeks to

answered the following question:

1. To find out the extent of the Impact of insufficient street lighting in

Barangay Bato-Bato:

1.1 Insufficient Street Light

1.2. To determine the level of effects to public safety at Barangay Bato-

Bato

1.1. Accidents

1.2. Crime

3. To find out if there a significant relationship between the extent of the

Impact of insufficient street lighting on public safety and the level of

groups effects at Barangay Bato-Bato.

Review of Related Literature

This part of the study presents the concepts of significantly related to

the topics. It present the framework and principles of the variable and
indicators of the study. The independent variable of the study is the
Lack of Street lights and public safety is the dependent variable and its
indicators are Accidents, and Crime.

Insufficient Street lighting

The impact of insufficient lighting, particularly the road in many

Purok, and part-night lighting in urban areas, have attracted

considerable public and media concern, centring on crime, fear of crime,

perceptions of safety, and road safety. These are all important

determinants of health and well being: directly in the case of road

safety; and indirectly, in that fear of crime, for instance, has multiple

pathways that impact on mental health (Lorenc et al., 2012).

Crime

To date, empirical research on fear of crime and perceptions of

safety have focused largely on improvements to lighting, with the

assumption that more lighting will improve security, and reduce fear of

crime (Lorenc et al., 2013). According to Koskela and Pain (2000),

suggest, ‘fear of crime’ is a complex outcome of the political and social

meanings of space, including gendered meanings, and is unlikely to be

deterministically tied to isolated environmental conditions such as

public lighting.

Incidents

On road traffic injuries, Beyer and Ker’s (2009) systematic review

also noted the poor methodological quality of research to date, and

suggested more high quality evaluations were needed to adequately

determine the effectiveness of street lighting for reducing the incidence

of road traffic injury.

This study focuses on the Barangay Bato-Bato

residents’ experiences with problems that are mostly brought on by a la

ck of street lighting at night, specifically highlighting any potential prob

lems that may arise while going out at night.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

This study supports the main theory from the Theory of The

impact of insufficient street lighting on public safety in Municipality of

San Isidro. It explains why lighting services are important. Based on the

study by Paul Marchant (2006), the lighting of roads is said to be of

benefit beyond giving the ability to be able to see in the dark. It is

claimed for example that lighting reduces crime and traffic accidents by

a considerable amount and it is therefore necessary to have it for these

reasons. My view remains that this claim lacks evidence of a sufficiently

high standard to warrant using public safety as an argument.

Finally, as noted by Welsh and Farrington (2008), other theoretical

perspectives on the role that lighting plays in the crime production
function have emphasized the importance of lighting as an investment
in neighborhood conditions that may strengthen community social
cohesion (Skogan, 1990). An improvement in the physical environment
of a neighborhood, such as the installation of new street lights, may also
serve as a cue that an area is cared for and that criminal behaviors
violate community norms (Sampson et al.,

1997). Under this theory, street lighting might impact crime at nighttime
and daytime hours by signaling higher levels of collective efficacy in
communities.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Public Safety
 Incidents
Insufficient Street
lighting  Crime

Figure 1. Paradigm of the Study

Significance of the Study

The findings which this study will reveal, may benefit certain

groups and the benefits they may be able to gain are as follows:
 To the people of the community May use this study to prove

that they will benefit to the improving of street lights because it is one

of the essential needs of every community.

To the Barangay officials may use this study to serve as their basis,

record or guide to know how effective to improve street lighting is.

To the Police Administration will benefit of having street lights

because it can help them to solve crime and accidents cases easier.

To the Researchers will know the value of improving street

lighting that will serves a good source of accurate and useful

information because of their findings of the study.

Definition of terms:

Accidents- an occurrence of an action or situation that is a separate unit

of experience : happening.

: an action likely to lead to grave consequences especially in diplomatic

matters a serious border incident.

Crime- an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be

prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law.

Public Safety- which includes the formulation and implementation of

programs and policies and procedures to achieve public safety.

 METHOD

This chapter presents the research design, research instrument, data

gathering procedure and statistical treatment of data.

Research Design

This study used the descriptive survey method which is seen to be the

most appropriate, since the researchers needed to gather relatively limited

data from a relatively large number of subjects. As a method of research, it

uses questionnaire in obtaining responses from the respondents. This paved

the way for researchers to gather genuine and reliable data and obtain

information about the impact of insufficient street lightning and public safety in

terms of incidents, crime and death. (Sampson et al.., 1997).

Research Respondents

The research respondents of the study are the residents of Barangay

Bato-Bato who are experiencing issues regarding insufficient street lighting.

The researchers used Sloven’s formula in getting the (5%) of total household

in each purok.
 The table 1 presents the distribution of respondents who participated in

the said problem and Figure 2 is the map of Barangay Bato-Bato where the

study was conducted.

Table 1

Distribution of Respondents

Purok Total Number of

HouseHold
Respondents

1 54 2

2 63 3

3 158 7

4. 38 1

5 49 2

6 88 4

7 84 4

8 166 8

9 105 5

10 32 1

11 54 2

12 25 1

13 26 1
 14 53 2

15 74 3

16 109 5

17 142 7

18 203 10

19 90 4

20 120 6

21 97 4

22 156 7

23 198 9

Total 2,184 98

Figure 2

Map of Barangay Bato-Bato

Research Instrument

The instrument used in this study is a researcher-made survey

questionnaire that went through validation process to gather data needed in

this study. It was design to find out the extent of the impact of insufficient

street lighting on public safety. The statements in the indicators were made

short for respondents to comprehend easily. For the evaluation of the said

study on impact of insufficient street lighting and public safety the items were

rated using the five point Likert Scales as shown below.

The extent impact of insufficient street lighting and public safety used

on the following parameter limits and scale.

Parameter Scale Descriptive Description

Limits Equivalent
4.50-5.00 5 Always This means that the impact of insufficient
street lighting and public safety is observed
in all occasions.

3.50-4.49 4 Often This means that the impact of insufficient

street lighting and public safety is observed
in most occasions.

2.50-3.49 3 Sometimes This means that the impact of insufficient

street lighting and public safety is observed
in some occasions.

1.50-2.49 2 Seldom This means that the impact of insufficient

street lighting and public safety is rarely
observed.

1.00-1.49 1 Never This means that the impact of insufficient

street lighting and public safety is not
observed.
Data Gathering Procedure

The following procedures were employed to attain orderly and

meaningful result:

Seeking Permission to Conduct the Study. A letter of permission to

conduct the study was given personally by the researchers to the College

President, Marciano B. Melchor, PhD to seek for approval. After which,

another set of letters were sent to the Barangay Captain of Bato-Bato in

Municipality of San Isidro to humbly ask their support in administering the

questionnaire on the scheduled date.

Administration and Retrieval of Questionnaire. After securing the

support from authorized officials, the researchers administered the

questionnaires to the respondents.