TOKYO: Blue street lights have been found to be useful in preventing suicides and street crime - a finding that is leading Japanese railway companies to install blue light-emitting apparatuses at stations to stop people from jumping in front of trains.

Though experts are split over the effectiveness of the blue lights, railway companies that have installed the lighting say they have played a role in preventing suicides.

Then there's the security dividend: Glasgow city in Britain introduced blue street lighting to improve the landscape in 2000.

Afterwards, it was observed that the crime rate in areas illuminated in blue dipped.

Japan's Nara prefectural police set up blue street lights in the prefecture in 2005 - and saw the crime rate fall by 9 per cent.

Many other areas have followed suit.

Keihin Electric Express Railway changed the colour of eight lights on the ends of platforms at Gumyoji Station, Yokohama in February.

According to the company, a few people try to commit suicide every year at the station.

But since the blue lighting was introduced, no suicide attempts have been made at the station.

Since December 2006, JR West has set up blue lighting at 38 crossings, including on the Hanwa Line connecting Osaka and Wakayama prefectures.

Since the installation, no accidents involving a car ramming into a train at crossings have occurred and no one has committed suicide at the sites.

A JR West spokesman said: "We're confident that blue lighting is effective to a certain extent in preventing suicide."

Some research suggests that blue light has a calming effect on people.

Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network

For more my paper stories, click here.