Late Night Traffic Patterns

Being a husband and father means that I am not out late at night like I used to be. This week, however, I was out late the night we flew into Nashville after spending a week in Cali, and again to pick up my brother-in-law and family from the airport the night they flew in.

I noticed two things. The first is that it is still very hot and very humid at 11PM this time of year. Like being hit with a hot wet towel, but we have discussed this many times before, and while uncomfortable, it wasn't surprising.

What I did find surprising is that at some point in the evenings, and I don't know when because I rarely venture out after the kiddie's bedtime, the traffic signals go from the normal "Green Means Go, Red Means Stop, Yellow Means Speed Up" mode to a "Don't inconvenience anyone out this late" mode.

On larger streets–Gallatin Road in this case–the signals were all flashing yellow rather than cycling through the normal routine. Cross streets were flashing red. This may be common in bigger cities, Nashville is the largest city I have lived in, so how would I know?

It does seem like a good idea, people are just going to run those lights anyway.