Scenes

• Lighting for large outdoor car parks
• Lighting for small outdoor car parks

Car parks - whether they are public or private - are an extension of the public highway, a place used by motorists and pedestrians, and by cyclists taking short-cuts. The greater the volume of traffic, the greater the risk of collisions. Good lighting reduces the danger of accidents by providing visual guidance and making vehicles and people, boundaries and obstacles easier to identify. It also helps guard against night crime.

The lighting required for areas where both vehicles and pedestrians circulate needs to be brighter than for the areas where vehicles park. Hazard zones - especially entrances and exits - should be clearly marked by signal arrangements of luminaires. For outdoor car parks with heavy mean traffic loads, DIN EN 12464-2 stipulates at least 20 lux illuminance. Where traffic is lighter, 5 lux, and where is middle, 10 lux are acceptable. Other lighting criteria are uniformity of illuminance and adequate glare limitation. Lighting systems should also encompass peripheral zones.

Suitable luminaires for car park lighting are wide-angle streetlighting luminaires for lamps of high luminous efficacy, such as high-pressure sodium lamps, metal halide lamps or compact fluorescent lamps. The economic efficiency of the lighting system is heightened by using electronic ballasts (EBs) to operate lamps and by fitting luminaires with precision optical controllers.