cynep: Awesome job. Now, when can we expect cops to get ticketed for running red lights with no emergency? What? I'm the only one who sees cops turn strobes on at the intersection, only to turn them off after running red light?

times like that I wish I could pull them over and ask them if they know why I pulled them over.

That doesn't mean they aren't responding to an important call. It is something that is taught and is utilized for a variety of reasons.

Blind, ignorant hatred is good too, though. Carry on.

It is bad enough being on the wrong side of those things when they are used officially. I had a really slow light (~4 min red) on my way to work. One morning I got to the intersection just in time to get the red light. I eventually saw the other direction turn yellow, so I prepared to go, but then a cop car came by and reset the light to green for the other direction. It happened another three times in the exact same way. The light would be about ready to turn and an emergency vehicle would come along and reset it.

Someone better have been dying.

FTFA
I can understand the frustration a local person must feel because a lot of our lights are not synchronized

Then why don't you fix your farking lights? It is pretty damn frustrating when you're trying to get somewhere and the lights are timed so that just as you get up to speed after the light behind you turned green the one ahead of you turns red with no traffic on the cross street.

Ah the boxen. As others have already pointed out, this is an example of a Chrome Box (http://www.textfiles.com/phreak/BOXES/box-chro.txt). Someone mentioned having tinkered with these in the 90's, but for me it was the 80's. There were box plans for just about every need (http://www.textfiles.com/phreak/BOXES/). What fun times. I learned a lot building various boxes.

Freebyrdjason: pedobearapproved: I'd love one of these things. I can't imagine use of it would help that much during rush hour, without the lights and sirens those cars that you're driving along side still have to dump off onto side roads. or move through the next red light down.

I'd use it on the early morning to work trip to bypass the lights that hold FOREVER (okay 75 seconds) when there is zero oncoming traffic.

That annoys the shiat out of me! I hate it when your sitting there and no traffic anywhere! However, you have to stay put all because you could get pulled overand be sited for nothing more than than that city needs the money.

Sometimes if lights have road sensors, I have to roll my car back and forth a couple times to get them to trip. They're induction sensors from what I gather, so if they don't trip as you approach them, they won't trip with the car stationary.

I think my car is equipped with a device that does the exact opposite. Especially the traffic light down the street from my house, it's always green until I show up, then it turns red.
Every friggin' time.

Silly Jesus: cynep: Awesome job. Now, when can we expect cops to get ticketed for running red lights with no emergency? What? I'm the only one who sees cops turn strobes on at the intersection, only to turn them off after running red light?

times like that I wish I could pull them over and ask them if they know why I pulled them over.

That doesn't mean they aren't responding to an important call. It is something that is taught and is utilized for a variety of reasons.

Blind, ignorant hatred is good too, though. Carry on.

I don't waste my time any more on this stuff, but there was a time when I would follow cops after they did this, and roughly 20% of the time they would pull into a restaurant, or doughnut shack...

You nay sayers have clearly never been to Raleigh NC, the home of the 8 minute red light and double that for left turns. And if you're lucky you're not behind a derptard who thinks it's funny to sit there through the green light and suddenly go the instant it switches to red.

sharkbeagle: You nay sayers have clearly never been to Raleigh NC, the home of the 8 minute red light and double that for left turns. And if you're lucky you're not behind a derptard who thinks it's funny to sit there through the green light and suddenly go the instant it switches to red.

That what a horn is for buddy. And if that doesn't work, then that is what the push bar was installed for in the front of my truck. :-)

/I really don't have a push bar.
//It's on my "buy" list tho.

The entitlement mentality strikes again.

I'm suprised they didn't get him for a felony. In Tennessee, it's a felony to alter a traffic control system unless you've been authorized to by the local sherriff department or city police.

Opticoms can be serious business if you get caught using them. They're also serious business in a liability suit, if you're not authorized to run one, and an accident happens at the intersection you're caught using them at, you're liable just as if you hit the car.

StrangeQ: FTFA
I can understand the frustration a local person must feel because a lot of our lights are not synchronized

Then why don't you fix your farking lights? It is pretty damn frustrating when you're trying to get somewhere and the lights are timed so that just as you get up to speed after the light behind you turned green the one ahead of you turns red with no traffic on the cross street.

Cities do this on purpose. My city did this and in the face of complaints they said it was "to promote safety". All it did when they first implemented it was allow the police to sit along areas watching for people to tear off the line to try an beat the next light or blow through the next light. They eventually dialed it back to just f-ing with people during rush hour... Once in a while (usually the beginning of the month) they will set up speed/light traps on that road and fill their non-existent quota early so they can go back to doing f*ck-all the rest of the month...

devine: What if you have turn signal that just happens to be the right frequency to trip the traffic lights? Still illegal?

The systems are proprietary - i.e. if your city has an OPTICOM system - for example - all of your emergency vehicles have to have special strobes designed to work with that opticom system, and designed to work at frequencies that no one other than the person intended to use the system, or someone trying to cheat the system, would have.

So. yeah. Still illegal.

Obligatory:

CeroX: StrangeQ: FTFA
I can understand the frustration a local person must feel because a lot of our lights are not synchronized

Then why don't you fix your farking lights? It is pretty damn frustrating when you're trying to get somewhere and the lights are timed so that just as you get up to speed after the light behind you turned green the one ahead of you turns red with no traffic on the cross street.

Cities do this on purpose. My city did this and in the face of complaints they said it was "to promote safety". All it did when they first implemented it was allow the police to sit along areas watching for people to tear off the line to try an beat the next light or blow through the next light. They eventually dialed it back to just f-ing with people during rush hour... Once in a while (usually the beginning of the month) they will set up speed/light traps on that road and fill their non-existent quota early so they can go back to doing f*ck-all the rest of the month...

This vaguely reminds me of a scene in some movie where everyone is constantly trying to beat the next light. I can't think of the name, wanna say Harry and the Hendersons, or Don't tell mom the babysitters dead, but I don't think that's it :(

devine: BronyMedic: devine: What if you have turn signal that just happens to be the right frequency to trip the traffic lights? Still illegal?

The systems are proprietary - i.e. if your city has an OPTICOM system - for example - all of your emergency vehicles have to have special strobes designed to work with that opticom system, and designed to work at frequencies that no one other than the person intended to use the system, or someone trying to cheat the system, would have.

So. yeah. Still illegal.

You'd be amazed at the precision of some of my accidents.

This.... This has something to do with why the condom broke each time, doesn't it?

BummerDuck: "I can understand the frustration a local person must feel because a lot of our lights are not synchronized and we waste a lot of time sitting at the stoplights," she said.

Yet it never gets fixed.

This happens in every city. Lights are rarely synchronized at all. The road repair isn't thought out. These people must be the most incompetent government workers out there.

Sounds like someone didn't pass their FE/PE/PTOE exam.

Crudbucket: GreenAdder: Rik01: Well, that did take a bit longer to show up in public hands than I expected. We all knew that it was inevitable from the instant it was put into action.

Back in the 90's, I'd heard of people spoofing the system with modified strobelights. I have no idea what type of system is being used these days.

I have a who took the modified strobelight method one step further and just rapidly flashes his brights as he comes up to the red light. On the 1 out of 10 times that the light coincidentally happens to be turning green, he'll take credit and brag about how clever he is for a week.

Had a buddy like that too

I get stopped at every red light. I support this device.

GreenAdder: Rik01: Well, that did take a bit longer to show up in public hands than I expected. We all knew that it was inevitable from the instant it was put into action.

Back in the 90's, I'd heard of people spoofing the system with modified strobelights. I have no idea what type of system is being used these days.

The really old ones you used to be able to spoof by toggling your high beams really quickly.

There are days I'm tempted to buy one of these. We have a pair of lights ~100 feet apart. When one turns green, the other turns red. So only 10 to 12 cars can clear the first green before the available space is filled. Whatever engineer did that pattern botched it up.

/or he simulated it perfectly but then the roadworkers farked up the programming

ha-ha-guy: GreenAdder: Rik01: Well, that did take a bit longer to show up in public hands than I expected. We all knew that it was inevitable from the instant it was put into action.

Back in the 90's, I'd heard of people spoofing the system with modified strobelights. I have no idea what type of system is being used these days.

The really old ones you used to be able to spoof by toggling your high beams really quickly.

There are days I'm tempted to buy one of these. We have a pair of lights ~100 feet apart. When one turns green, the other turns red. So only 10 to 12 cars can clear the first green before the available space is filled. Whatever engineer did that pattern botched it up.

/or he simulated it perfectly but then the roadworkers farked up the programming

Or the engineer did it on purpose to fark with you.

/there's a few intersections near me that are like that. I can't believe the engineer or roadworkers are that bad

OK, maybe some genius here can explain this.

Making the lights change to green for emergency vehicles just invites this type of abuse.

Why not change the light programming to simply change all the lights to red? Normal traffic stops, the emergency vehicles can still pass through, and it's useless to exploit.

Seems obvious.

This was big back in 2005ish. It's just a high frequency IR source. Someone back then chimed in that their city/state/country had a solution for this: The preemptor just makes all lights red. That way everyone comes to a stop and the emergency vehicle just takes the opposite side of the road.

I've heard some universal remotes can change the lights, not sure if it works or not.

There was rumor a few years ago that you could change the walk lights to your favor on crosswalks by pressing the button in a certain pattern. Didn't work.

There are actually real back door tricks for elevators that you can use to make them go straight to the floor that you want and skip all other floors. I don't remember what it is, but I tried it when I lived in Chicago, and it always worked. I think that there are videos on YouTube about it, but I am too lazy to look, and truth be told there is a schoolgirl thread that is calling for my attention.

jfivealive: This vaguely reminds me of a scene in some movie where everyone is constantly trying to beat the next light. I can't think of the name, wanna say Harry and the Hendersons, or Don't tell mom the babysitters dead, but I don't think that's it :(

I know the one you're talking about...in the end he pulls out a blaster that the aliens or whoever left him and shoots out the light...can't think of the name of it either.

And as for that XKCD comic...I've spoken to civil engineers before about traffic light issues, and honestly they really don't know fark-all about the light in question. Most of the time the people doing the designing are on the other side of the city, if not the entire state, and have never even seen the intersection they are working on.

VonKraut: I've heard some universal remotes can change the lights, not sure if it works or not.

LOL nope - see my comment right below mine - this was right along with the rumor that you could change the crosswalks.

One of my friends is a civil engineer and has said that some lights have sensors in the road. (usually visible as tarred lines in the road in a box shape) And that by pumping your brakes on it it will cause a faster light change. It seems to work, but I did a lot of acid in the 90's.

Grables'Daughter: There was rumor a few years ago that you could change the walk lights to your favor on crosswalks by pressing the button in a certain pattern. Didn't work.

Actually, Most of those buttons don't do anything at all.

I think we're all missing the important thing here. If you watch the whole video, it sounds like the reporter's name is "BREAST Phillips". This should obviously be the topic of discussion. Or at least, the topic of included pictures.

Sentient: Making the lights change to green for emergency vehicles just invites this type of abuse.

Because the system is designed to be tamper-resistant. The frequencies the lights flash at, and the patterns of flashes the light sensors "look" for are rather obscure, and the only people who are going to know it are people who configure them for the city's emergency vehicles and the authorized responders that use it, and someone who's purposly trying to beat the system. Even if you bought a used transmitter and installed it in your car, you'd still have to have someone who knows how to program them for the specific pattern and frequency the city lights look for.

Sentient: Why not change the light programming to simply change all the lights to red? Normal traffic stops, the emergency vehicles can still pass through, and it's useless to exploit.

The whole reason the system was designed was to reduce or eliminate the need for Emergency Vehicles to come to a complete stop, and inch through the intersection. That's why the system changes the lights to make the direction of travel of the emergency vehicle have the green. If the whole system went red at once, then it would defeat the entire purpose of it. Plus, it's rather obvious when the system is tripped. They usually have huge red strobe lights on the intersection poles that trip about 5-10 seconds before the light turns, so people know it's about to.

Sentient: Seems obvious.

The laws regarding emergency vehicles and right of way are complicated, like - tax code complicated. Making the four way intersection red all directions still means the vehicle has to come to a complete stop, and navigate each individual lane as if it's an intersection for a court to consider it "driving with due regard". Even if someone runs that red light, the fire truck/ambulance/cop car is still at fault for hitting them due to the "due regard" clauses.

StrangeQ: Actually, Most of those buttons don't do anything at all.

I wish this were true in New England. You gotta press the button, and wait for all-red, at almost every intersection in every town.

StrangeQ: Grables'Daughter: There was rumor a few years ago that you could change the walk lights to your favor on crosswalks by pressing the button in a certain pattern. Didn't work.

Actually, Most of those buttons don't do anything at all.

LOL well THAT'S interesting.

I know that when I am walking to the park that there is a walk button at the crosswalk that really seems to do no good at all.

So, it's just there to make me feel good.

Huh.

They'll charge me $2,000 for wondering?

I wonder why?

Dammit, there goes another 2K.

SpikeStrip: SpaceyCat: While I understand the desire to get through lights quickly, but do you have to be THAT much of a dick hole to do that sort of thing?

a gym doesn't come to you.

I beg your pardon. You can order the Bowflex home gym off the internet and have delivered right to your door. No need to leave your house, fatty.

Mose:

Sometimes if lights have road sensors, I have to roll my car back and forth a couple times to get them to trip. They're induction sensors from what I gather, so if they don't trip as you approach them, they won't trip with the car stationary.

And if you happen to be on a bike that weighs in the neighborhood of 400lb made up of mostly plastic and alloys, sometimes they won't trip AT ALL. I have had to run one light near work more than once. (after being completely sure the coast was clear.)

hobblekitty: Sometimes all you have to do is flick your headlights on and off a few times in rapid succession to get the light to change.

That works at some intersections near me. And for those saying anyone who uses this is a douchebag, sometimes it's not about traffic, it's about sitting at a stop light for 4+ minutes while no traffic goes by either way.

Grables'Daughter: StrangeQ: Grables'Daughter: There was rumor a few years ago that you could change the walk lights to your favor on crosswalks by pressing the button in a certain pattern. Didn't work.

Actually, Most of those buttons don't do anything at all.

LOL well THAT'S interesting.

I know that when I am walking to the park that there is a walk button at the crosswalk that really seems to do no good at all.

So, it's just there to make me feel good.

Huh.

Basically yeah. There are ones in my area where the walk light will come on when the traffic light turns red (assuming you pressed the button), but the button doesn't make it happen any faster than it normally would. And then there are some where the walk light never comes on even if you pressed the button till you were blue in the face.

Mose: Kurmudgeon: What's the hurry? I generally use the stop to reset the radio, have a drink or a snack, look for something under the dash. Oh look, the light has turned!

You can't do that in the greater Boston area, because if people behind you see your brake lights on a fraction of a second after the light is green, everyone behind you lays on their horn.

Hell, sometimes if you can see the yellow light on for the opposite direction and you haven't started moving forward you get honked at.

/I don't miss the city.

I just flew from Boston to California. A friend picked me up from LAX. On the freeway, she was putting on her turn signal before changing lanes. I got very nervous, because back in Boston, if you signal your intention to change lanes, other drivers will close the gap--i.e., speed up and not let you over, lest you get in front of them.

That is, in Boston, signaling your lane changes is a sign of weakness that other drivers pounce on.

Strangely, it works. Like a proof of Smithian economic theories, with everyone acting in only their own self-interest, completely selfish, the system works.