Streetlights make a promise that darkness should not belong entirely to fear.

Light on a street is a decision about who gets to be out. Where it is lit, an evening walk stays available to people who would otherwise stay home, and where it is not, the hours after five belong to whoever worries least. That is not a small amenity, since it decides who has a city in winter. Infrastructure of this kind is care expressed in cables.

Notice which routes near you go dark and who that excludes. Report a broken light rather than stepping around it. And if a walk feels unavailable to somebody you know, offering to go with them is a reasonable thing to do.