Fatal lantern design flaw – beware

In Wellington, street lights were upgraded to LED lights a few years ago. Perhaps a critical design flaw crept in.

Wellington street lights have a problem: they bend under their own weight in the wind, like wet buttercups. And that only in mild cases. When things go wrong, the 11.2-kilogram bulbs hit the streets in New Zealand’s capital.

No one has been hurt yet, but the problem is so present now that the city administration feels compelled to act – and they want all 17,000 or so street lights to be retrofitted. “You have to assume that people would be seriously injured or killed if they were injured,” city spokesman Richard McLean told the Guardian. City officials said that since the lights were installed in 2018, 17 lights have fallen and 161 bent.

It appears that the cause of the lanterns placement problems is the aluminum connector that is supposed to hold the lamp head with the LEDs on the lamp post. However, these connections are “not designed for strong winds in Wellington”, the city administration states on its website. As a result, the bulbs either bend down or, at worst, break off and fall to the ground.

About 600 lanterns have already been upgraded, and another 3,200 will be prioritized in particularly windy locations. Reinforcement of all 17,000 lanterns should cost the equivalent of more than 3.4 million euros. Wellington wants money from the New Zealand government. Meanwhile, Mayor Torre Wanawo implored the townspeople: “If you see a street lamp bent somewhere: please let me know immediately!”