Porchlight privilege

[khall]

I've always left my porch light on, as long as it is dark/dusk, and I am awake. Since I go to bed between midnight and three am, that pretty much means it's on 'all night'. I considered this both good manners, because it lights the street, and lets people know I'm home and makes it safer, in general, at least from a criminal psychology standpoint,

Comments

[haloedone]

I've heard some people complain about light shining into their house at night/bed time.

Personally, I have blinds, so it doesn't bother me. But my porch light is off unless I need it for when I get home. That's what street lights are for!

[khall]

You must live on a corner. Middle of the block, streetlights don't light up as well. I don't lock my front door, but if I did, I live on a corner, and there's no way I could even see the door lock without the porch light being on. It's pitch dark on my porch after dark and the street light is maybe 50' away. In fact, I go out there in my aquaman underoos after midnight or so, to sneak a couple of drags real quick...

K.

[musicman]

You could leave your porch light on all night, and then it would not signal what you are doing, but would continue to help provide light to the street.

[ironphoenix]

I live on a small private road with no streetlights; the homeowners' group requests that we all leave our porch lights on all night. My wife and I do, but unfortunately, not everyone does.

As far as safety and signalling goes, the less information you give to a would-be attacker, the better, so having your porch light do the same thing every night regardless of your own activity is probably best.

[khall]

I think the odds of being stalked/having an organized attacker are ridiculously low. I'd be more worried about someone walking down the street, randomly, or out looking for a victim, and finding the porch light and/or some other tells to indicate a single woman, or other vulnerable population. If someone is actively spying on you, with the intention to hurt you...well, sniper rifle problem. It's pretty hard to defend against.:)

K.

[blushing_grace]

I always viewed leaving the porch light on as a symbol of "not everyone is home yet" or "we're expecting people". I'd view just my car in the driveway and the porch light on to signal to neighbors that I AM home alone (with Gwen).

[anais_pf]

I live in a neighborhood that has street lights (though the street light directly in front of my house is burned out, and I like it that way, which is a separate conversation). My porch light turned on means one of us is expected home after dark, and/or we are expecting visitors, and/or one of my housemates forgot to turn the light out after he arrived home.

Unless everyone in your neighborhood behaves the same way you do with respect to porch lights, you may think of it as privileged behavior, but maybe it's not?

[khall]

Porch lights around here are usually on until 9-10 pm, at other houses. I sorta assumed this was country, if not world-wide. You turn your porch light on after dark, and turn it off when you are not going outside any more/going to bed (maybe being a smoker means I go outside more than 'normal'). Maybe it's just how I was brought up.

However, I still maintain there is a public safety issue. And a societal consciousness one.:)

K.

[khall]

Also, yes, we have a street lights. But most cities only put them every block, or every other block. Which can make for large areas of pretty deep darkness.

It's sorta the broken window theory...but...watered down and extrapolated. If darkness breeds crime, which I think is a pretty safe assumption, then...every light off, contributes to that.

K.

[anais_pf]

Gracious, now I feel privileged. There are street lights every four or five or six houses here ... at least two or three per block. My front yard is one of the few dark places in the neighborhood. Now I'm going to have to go out and look to see who has their porch lights on and when. I do notice a lot of proximity-activated lights on porches and garages.