Somewhat off the direct topic, but maybe of general interest.
I grew up in the UK, and back then, (dodging dinosaurs), street lighting was controlled by electro-mechanical time switched. A small synchronous motor drove gearing turning the switch once per 24 hours. settings on the clock face would flip a microswitch on/off at the set times.
The timers for street lights had one extra feature, more gearing for a cam that turned once per year. This cam advanced/retarded the set times to follow daylight at (about) 52 degrees latitude. So long as someone went around and adjusted them after any power outage (rare in those days) they worked fine. Turning on the lights at dusk, and off at daybreak.
Lights were kept on in urban areas mostly because of vehicle lighting laws. If you parked your car on the street, after lighting up time you had to have parking lights on it - basically a red light on the road side/rear and white at the front. People did get tickets for not lighting up their cars. People also had lots of flat batteries on their cars, especially in the winter.
If it was parked on a street with lighting, the requirement didn't apply (well, it did early on, but common sense got the law changed).
Cars parked overnight on the road were much more likely in urban areas.
As someone else mentioned above, lighting generally doesn't reduce crime. Pretty much the reverse. Someone skulking around in the dark with a flashlight is much more obvious that a dimly lit figure lit by street lights.