Driving late at night is heaps easier than driving at any other time , with the obvious exception of fri/sat night, driving in town.
Driving home from work at 9am I get gridlock and stopped at lights, and have to merge lanes of traffic and stuff.
In contrast to driving to work at 3am, when I usually never see another single car, never get stopped at a single light. I can rip across town no stress, where I'm constantly tense and having to react to hazards during the day.
It's only when people start getting silly (which is a matter of maturity) that things will go wrong. I think the night has a strong emotional effect upon people, it tends to make people more manic and bold, not to mention they haven't had a good sleep. Judgement is impaired under the cover of darkness.