MONROVIA, Montserrado – To improve visibility at night, the Liberia Electricity Corporation or LEC recently announced a campaign to install functional street lights in major streets in and around Monrovia.

Drivers in Monrovia had earlier identified poor street lighting at night as a major factor leading to bad driving and motor accidents across the city.

According to them, poor visibility at night causes them to drive on their high beam lights at night, thus impairing the visibility of other drivers.

To date, LEC says it has been able to install at least 500 pieces of street lights, covering all parts of SKD and Tubman Boulevards, ELWA Junction, Jallah Town and Old Road.

“You can now drive through these places at night with your [high] beam lights off,” Mambu James Kpargoi, public relations manager for LEC told The Bush Chicken.

Kpargoi said although the campaign is continuing to include other areas, the major streets in Monrovia can now be compared to those of developed countries on visibility.

“Even a student who wants to study can now do so enjoying the new street lights,” he said.

However, a tour of Monrovia at night to independently verify Kpargoi’s claim discovered that most places named to have street lights are still practically in darkness.

An assessment of ELWA Junction in Paynesville, a major transit point, showed that only the lights from the Eagle’s Electrical store and other businesses that are operating in the areas are reflecting on the main streets.

Kpargoi justified that it is an international best standard that additional lights are not necessary in places like ELWA Junction, where lights from businesses are reflected onto the street.

However, The Bush Chicken found LEC’s claims that one can comfortably drive through these streets without high beam lights to be insincere, as major intersections including SKD Boulevard Junction, were in relative darkness.

Except for Sinkor, which has relative high visibility, many streetlights in Congo Town, Capitol Bypass and Old Road are dysfunctional.

Many drivers now affix supplementary LED lights to their vehicles to improve visibility while driving through the city at night.

However, the Liberia National Police has started removing and confiscating these lights from vehicles in the name of public safety.

Martin Tambah, a taxi driver in Monrovia said driving in Monrovia at night is still very much challenging.

Tambah said because of the poor visibility and narrowness of the city’s streets, it is almost impossible to drive without a beam light.

As for LEC’s claim of having improved the city’s lighting, he said, “I haven’t seen much, because for me, nothing has changed.”

He encouraged LEC to go beyond pronouncements and do more to improve the streets at night.

Featured photo by Lloyd Massah