A spurious thought: The economy, and current traffic patterns (Public Board)
That makes sense because many people are working two jobs now to make it in this economy. Maybe one job is during the day and the other begins at night. I don't usually go out during 4-6pm, so I don't know if its happening here. This is a more rural area so there is never much happening here. The traffic stays mainly on the highways.
Another thought I had is maybe you had an influx of illegals dumped in your area that aren't counted.