Interesting occurences.

Now this may be totally coincidental or not. I've had this happen numerous times over the last couple years. I've always wondered about this possibilty. This is what happens. I'll be walking along or driving during the night, I'll come up to a street light and about 20-30 feet before I get to the light it will go out as if its burned out. After I pass it will pop back on. Now this doesnt happen all the time. In the last few years I would say its happened 20-30 times. Most recently it happened while on vacation when I was walking back to my hotel. Has anyone ever seen or heard of something similar to this?

Now I think, and this is opinion, I may be wrong, that most street lights are a sodium-based light and have a cut-off for heat related issues. They shut off to cool.
Now to contradict my own logic, I have a streetlight on the corner where I live and two years ago, the light, which lit up our bedroom shades and drapes, started going off...then on...then off...then on...etc; until the village came out and replaced the bulb.

Drove us mad at bedtime for a good two months.
That is the limit to MY knowledge. It would be a bit strange for it to happen while I was under it randomly though Odd indeed!

Cuhail

as far as i know, this is a fairly common occurrence.

there's a few threads about it already on ATS. its pretty interesting, i'll try and find them for you

here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

good luck

Thanks for those links. Very interesting. I would have never guessed that they had a technical term for such an advent. Sadly, like most things it's all conjecture no one can say really whats causes it. Glad to know I'm not the only person experiencing this.

From Wikipedia

At the end of life, high-pressure sodium lamps exhibit a phenomenon known as cycling. These lamps can be started at a relatively low voltage but as they heat up during operation, the internal gas pressure within the arc tube rises and more and more voltage is required to maintain the arc discharge. As a lamp gets older, the maintaining voltage for the arc eventually rises to exceed the voltage provided by the electrical ballast. As the lamp heats to this point, the arc fails and the lamp goes out. Eventually, with the arc extinguished, the lamp cools down again, the gas pressure in the arc tube is reduced, and the ballast can once again cause the arc to strike. The effect of this is that the lamp glows for a while and then goes out, repeatedly.

As posters mention above, it's the timing. Though I also have the same thing happen to me, almost as if it's destined to happen!