ABSTRACT
The Bogota city traffic department responded to these developments by legalizing the behavior of drivers: between 11 PM and 2 AM, red lights were eliminated, and replaced with flashing yellow signals. Note that this change was not undertaken to limit the amount of time wasted by drivers and passengers sitting at red signals when intersections were uncrowded, the more common rationale for employing flashing yellow traffic signals during off-peak hours. The fact that robbers were about indicates that these were not deserted intersections, and the switch to flashing yellow as a time-saving device, if desirable, could have taken place any time, prior to the spate of carjackings. Traffic safety, not time savings, led to the elimination of red lights in Bogota at night. The expressed hope was that the flashing yellow lights would capture the attention of drivers, and induce them to proceed more carefully through intersections – more carefully, that is, than when drivers had made up their minds that they would fail to heed red lights.
