A LED based lighting system (20) employs a LED load temperature sensor (40) for generating a temperature-sensing signal (TSS) indicative of an operational temperature of the LED load (10), a LED current sensor (50) for generating a current-sensing signal (CSS) indicative of a flow of the LED current (I.sub.LED) through the LED load (10), and a LED driver (30) for regulating the flow of the LED current (I.sub.LED) through the LED load (10) as a function a mixture of the current-sensing signal (CSS) and the temperature-sensing signal (TSS). The system (20) can further employ a driver disable notifier (80) and a LED driver disabler (90), or alternatively, a fuse network (100) for disabling the LED driver (30) upon a detection of a fault condition of the system (20).