As for the street-lighting "attack", that was more of a "how come?" statement - I didn't think it a very clever idea compared with our 'cats eyes' - especially the latest versions.
Well J_L you are quite right, it isn't a very clever idea and I for one have been a strong adversary to the motorway's being lit-up all night long. In the fog it is down right dangerous too! Drivers use the street lights, when you can't see the road for the fog, as beacons telling them where the road is and where it twists. With these lights to guide them they can drive at normal motorway speeds, 100 + kph, when you can only see as far as the front of your car! That there are so few chain crashes beats me.
"How come?" I have a very deep knowledge of the Belgian culture and way of thinking, so I can work it out. All those lights cost a lot of money to make and put into place, some high placed person will have filled his pockets in a deal with the contractors that got the job. He will have used the argument that the roads will be safer lit-up, they are not, that the fabrication of the lights and the placing will give a lot of people work. The irony of all this is that with the expensive energy price of today, they turn some of the lights off at night to save money! I have only one thing to say in favor and that is if you break down at night, as I have done once, and your stuck on the hard shoulder they do give comfort and you can see what you are doing when you lift the bonnet or walk to the nearest breakdown phone. Then they are a god send.
Motorways with no lights and good 'cats eyes' are really good. If someone has to brake you can see the brake lights come on from miles away, with motorway lighting the brake lights don't show up that well.