The Purple Street Lights Are Coming Your Neighborhood

I was riding home with a friend last week after the last call and I thought I was losing my mind. I could have sworn one of the streetlights on the Loop was purple.  I know I had been drinking and my sober friend was driving, but he noticed it too.

There is a rash of purple street lights all across the nation. The lights almost give off a Gotham City sort of comic-book vibe. Is there a hidden meaning behind the purple streetlights?

There are some bizarre conspiracy theories on social media.  One man claims they're a sign of the "mark of the beast".  Although, I don't see any 666's embedded into the lights. Others say it is a sign that some neighborhoods have been sprayed with a toxic vaccine.  Just stop.

The purple lights are the result of a manufacturer defect.  The company that makes the lights, Acuity Brands,  has even set up a hotline to report faulty streetlights. Although I'll be they really don't appreciate all the crazy drunk calls about it in the middle of the night.

If you want to call and report a purple light you can call 1-800-5-OUTAGE

There are some streetlights that are intentionally blue. Some studies have shown that blue streetlights reduce crime and suicide rates. Who knew?  These purple lights are not that.

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White LED light is made up of all of the colors of the rainbow, when one color is removed, such as green, it leases red and blue light which mix to make purple.

Whenever the issue invariably turns up on social media, the comments are usually mixed. Since the purple color doesn't make the lights any dimmer, many people say they like it. In fact, the vast majority of people on social media say to keep the purple lights.

There are deeper questions about whether we will need to re-think how we light cities moving into the future. Some studies suggest the purple light makes it easier for traffic cameras and surveillance cameras to "see" in the dark.

As for me, I don't mind the purple lights. They cast our fair city in a whole new light. Sometimes, that's a good thing.