It is obvious that lighting plays a critical role in making your home safer. Yet, many homeowners don't plan it well from the viewpoint of security. Here are several critical home security tips on lighting.

* All sides of your home should have security lighting in place, placed high out of reach. Make sure it is reasonably vandal resistant.

* Lighting near doors is especially important, because burglars tend to focus on doors the most.

* To reduce risk of burglary, any lighting is better than no lighting. If you see that any portion of the house or yard is not adequately lit, take care of it.

* Your garage is another critical area of your home. Make use of an automatic garage opener. Most garage openers turn on one or more lights when activated.

* To protect your carport, leave a light on. If you are going away, have a light set on a timer. Also have lights activated by motion detectors to deter intruders.

* In general, lights attached to motion detectors are the best choice for exteriors, particularly for the backyard. Connect an alarm as well and you will immediately get to know if someone moves around in your yard.

* Some people hesitate to use motion sensor type lighting because of the false alarms caused by small animals like cats and dogs. Proper placement of the motion sensors as well as correct settings for sensitivity will take care of this problem to a large extent.

* Using motion sensors in the front of the house requires careful planning, because they can be triggered by people walking on the sidewalk or by children playing. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to hook lights to motion sensors.

* Many people leave just a small light on when going out. This is done to avoid walking into a dark home when returning. Examples include hallway lights or a light in one corner of the kitchen / living room.

Unfortunately, this kind of lighting signals to would-be burglars that no one is home.

The solution is to leave several lights on. Leave a radio on as well. When going on a vacation, put interior lights and a radio on timers.

As you can see, your objective is twofold. One, to ensure that lighting can reach all nooks and corners of your home and yard on demand. Two, your home should look occupied even when it is not.

Follow these simple home security tips on lighting and you will have gone a long way towards creating a safer home for you and your family.

James Strobes is a home and office security consultant. For information on home security in general, wireless home security systems and more, see the foregoing links.