When the traffic lights go out, the city operates as usual. We don’t need outside authorities to function.
Video transcript:
I was driving up Bathurst Friday during the windstorm when all the traffic lights went out. Amazingly, traffic kept moving at about the same rate.
At major intersections, people stopped, looked each way, made eye contact, let others go, then drove when others let them, also allowing pedestrians to cross. It was impressive and co-ordinated.
I saw this once before, in the power outage of 2003, also in rush hour. It proves, I thought, that the anarchist theory of human nature is right: people can self-regulate instinctively. They don’t need rules, outside authorities, police legal systems. It makes me feel good about my species.
