Broken-Stoplight Decision Making

The other day I was driving in Austin and I hit traffic.

I know what you’re thinking. Wow, someone call the press.

But this was a strange clump of traffic, sprawling ahead for what seemed like a mile, in a spot that usually doesn’t back up like this.

It was also the kind of maddening traffic that inches along at a constant but IMPOSSIBLY slow pace.

After fifteen or so minutes, I finally got to the cause of the traffic jam: The stoplight up ahead had gone out. Rather than the usual green-yellow-red system, all four directions faced a blinking red light. This meant every few seconds there was a new negotiation between a new set of drivers. Whose turn is it? Did I get there first or did one of the other six drivers at the intersection? If the guy in the lane next to me is going, can I just go along with him even though I rolled up slightly later?

It w…