The light pattern is SPECIFIED by the Dept of Transport. Don't know what you've been reading, but it's nonsense if they are saying "to light the entire area". It's merely poor light design - take an array of LEDs, toss them into a housing, fail to control the beam pattern, profit.

The "less energy" is also complete nonsense. The High Pressure Sodium Vapor lights are just as energy efficient, but don't last quite as long as a good LED design would (I have my doubts about the Chinese lights being bought, but time will tell). The Oregon incentive appears to have been directed at parking lot lighting, not street lighting, and specifies HALF the power of Sodium with an LED replacement. Being equal in efficacy, that means HALF the brightness. You might perceive the lamps to be brighter, but they are not. Half the brightness for streetlights may fail DOT illumination requirements, which would mean a complete replacement of what was just put in. That would not be very popular with taxpayers