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170 Comments
- thenativeraver, on 10/12/2007, -15/+109I am American, at least I can spell.
- chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -18/+101I hate it when people type "u" instead of "you". How lazy do you have to be, it's 2 letters- and plus, outside of teenage AOL forums from 1992, it makes you sound like an idiot.
- teh_toaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+76Its now a federal offense to use or possess a traffic signal changer; http://www.i-hacked.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=176
Oh BTW, that linked page teaches you how to make one ;P - mark1372, on 10/12/2007, -8/+74Anyone who makes their life more convenient by illegally incoveniencing everyone else is a ***** douchebag.
I'll bet this guy drives on the highway shoulders in traffic jams, doesn't pick up his dog's *****, and talks loudly on his cell phone in restaurants. - geekologist, on 10/12/2007, -17/+59I know what you mean. I'm a teenager and use Xanga to keep up with friends. None of them use capitalization, correct spelling, or even punctuation. I'm not the smartest person in the world, but at least I can use a spell checker. Why are teenagers, or just people in general, so lazy these days?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35Changing lights to be stuck at yellow would be better.
- chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -3/+26"Red means stop, green means go, and amber means....go like hell...everyone knows that" ~James Randi
- joel.smith, on 10/12/2007, -9/+30*harness you idiot
- chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -6/+27And he probably pretends to be nice to you when you're at a retaurant with him- then he screams at the waitress for no reason.
We know the type. - mark1372, on 10/12/2007, -13/+31What it does is transfer the effort to the reader, which is goddamn lazy and annoying.
It's much easier to read, "See me before you go to Brian's, OK?" than "omg c me b4 u go 2 brians k? lol" - chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19How so? It isn't an *instant* change to green, the opposing lights still cycle through yellow then red before changing the other lights to green. The system is used by emergency vehicles, and doesn't cause accidents any more than an ambulance triggering the light change.
- chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Just $50 for the offense? Not too bad compared to the $10,000 Federal fine--which is probably more bark than bite.
- chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Flashing Highbeams to trigger the light is the myth.
MIRT is real. - clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Technically those accidents would have been caused by bad drivers. The device encourages the light to change to green for you quicker, but it's not instant and still goes through the yellow to red sequence.
So other drivers would still be given time to stop, so if they crash, its their own fault. - kc7gr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Speaking as someone who works as an electronics engineering tech for a state police agency, I'd like to offer a few corrections and further info.
First off, it's 'Opticomm,' not 'Opticon' as printed in the article.
The original system was developed by 3M as a means to allow different types of traffic signal priority at intersections. The first-generation systems used a simple strobe light and two different flash rates. Public-transit and utility vehicles were usually assigned the low-priority rate. Such a signal will hold a green signal in the green mode, or extend a yellow until the Opticom-equipped vehicle clears an intersection, but it will not change a red signal to green.
The high-priority flash rate will change a red to a green in favor of the approaching emergency vehicle. These flashers are typically found on police, fire, and ambulance vehicles.
The current generation of Opticom systems is much more sophisticated. It uses the same strobe emitter, but the flash rate is controlled by a microprocessor in the control head and it's not a straight on/off flash. More specifically, each individual vehicle has a digital ID assigned to it, and this ID is programmed into the strobe controller.
In addition, modern traffic signal controllers have logging and telemetry capabilities. They are easily capable of reporting when a priority flasher was used, and even direction-of-travel in some cases. The authorized vehicle's ID is recorded at each intersection they use their override device at.
Spoofing the ID of an authorized vehicle won't help, because the dispatch centers know where every vehicle is and where they're going. Try to copy the ID of a vehicle that happens to be across town from you, or in quarters at the time, and the city that owns the signal is going to know something's up.
That arrogant idiot in CO got exactly what he deserved. - ippersiel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14It was switching between Red and Yellow. They removed the Green Light.
It was the episode where the Springfield Mensa took over town - Kitsune818, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Is it too much to ask of you to flip your left hand index finger up, then down? Common now, TRY to tell me that signalling is too much effort to be bothered with.
- gotjukies, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Wasn't there a Simpsons episode that had traffic lights do just that? All turn yellow?
- manonmars, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Its cheaper to change traffic light from red to green($50) than crossing on red light( ~300$)?
- sspooner, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Valleyman86 :
"Obviously if I want a job offer to consider me I will use proper english similar to what I am now. "
This made me laugh so much. It's the funniest thing I've seen all day. How does one cram so many errors into one sentence ?
Prepare yourself for a very long time on Unemployment Benefit, you truly are beyond help. - geekee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10What they should do is have the device make all the traffic lights turn red. This would allow ambulances to get through most intersections safely (ones with raised medians might be a problem) but stop abuse since there's no advantage for an ordinary driver to make all the lights red.
- dhakbar, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15existent:
It's not a generalization. We're talking about one guy who has proven he's inconsiderate enough of the other drivers on the road to use a device to change the lights to his own liking. If he is inconsiderate about something like that, it can be safely assumed that he doesn't give two ***** about other people in other situations.
The guy's behavior indicates that he is, indeed, a *****. - mark1372, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16valleyman86: I rest my case. You look like an illiterate imbecile in your post and I wouldn't ever want anyone who writes like that working for me. Neither would most people, and that's why you should care.
Writing properly gets your message across effectively, and why anyone wouldn't want to make the minor effort to have their message understood and appreciated is beyond me. It may be efficient for you, but it sucks for everyone else. And please, don't let us put you out or anything. - nstern2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Have you ever thought that mabye your friend just happened to flash his lights right before the light was going to change?
- existent, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10To me that's a failure of the civil engineers. There's no reason in the age of computers to have someone sit and wait for 5 minutes at a light when there's no one else around. But we take it all in stride because we're used to being oppressed by ***** technology.
- uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I don't need a device to change traffic lights for me. I can change red to green just by staring at the light.
- chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9@ jesusphreak
Wow! Your friend must be talented. He would have to flash his beams at 14Hz (14 times in a second) to trigger the MIRT receiver.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_light >> scroll down to Pre-emption - Stopher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Damm for 50 bucks I'll take the ticket. There's too many lights in my town where a stop sign or a blinking yellow/red light would suffice. We have lights where the cross street is a low traffic one way. It takes a half hour to get down the street.>=(
- TheSolomon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8While it's a tragedy your family member was killed, I believe you completely missed existent's point. I believe he was saying in this day and age the technology should work *better*, not that we should *run* the lights. It's a failure of civil engineering when the lights aren't able to sense and react to the traffic (or lack thereof in the opposite direction). It was a point about failed civil *engineering*, not civil *disobedience*. :-)
- Bradl3y, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14I've read that was just a myth: http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/strobe.asp
People think it works sometimes because sometimes the light is about to switch to green anyways. - existent, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12That's called a "fundamental attribution error".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error
But hey, if you're comfortable doing the social equivalent of damning people to hell for all eternity based on a single observation of their character, then all the power to ya. - zirtbow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is cool but would be a dead give away in the city i'm in. The IR sensors that are at the busy intersections also have a white light on them here so when an ambulance goes by and the lights change to green/red you can see the white light flashing. If you were to use them here and no one saw an ambulance (or other authority vehicle) then it would eventually give you away that someone is 'messing' with the system.
- ebob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I read an article about this awhile back http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,68507-0.html.
I think that the best way to avoid these problems is for these communities to use some common sense when laying out traffic signals. One should not have to stop at every signal when driving down a street. The fact that most signals are not timed properly is the reason that people try to "hack the system". Furthermore, there are too many traffic signals. Out here, they are sprouting like weeds. Roads that used to have a 55 MPH speed limit and no signals now have a 35 MPH speed limit and signals every half-block. People then started to try going down side streets to beat the traffic, which angered the residents and now no one is allowed to go down the side streets during rush hour. - odyaws, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8"I'll bet this guy drives on the highway shoulders in traffic jams"
I love it when I spot one of those a*holes in my rear view mirror and can pull enough onto the shoulder to cut him off. It gives me an almost indecent thrill of satisfaction. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9http://digg.com/hardware/Build_a_DIrtY_MIRT_(Do_It_Yourself_Mobile_InfraRed_Transmitter)
"Where did you learn to do this?"
"You Dad!!! I learned it from watching YOU!!!" - LoungeActx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8It's not a myth, ambulances use them. I also believe some Police Departments and Fire Departments use them as well.
- Guye, on 10/12/2007, -8/+13Stupidity is an issue of the species, not of location.
- cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6That doesn't make sense. It changes lights to green not to red. It is a one way trip.
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My town solved this problem rather easily when they put in the systems initially, I think. The traffic light outside my window is equipped with that sensor on the poles, but it's also equipped with a big flashing rotating red emergency light that goes off whenever an emergency vehicle gets close enough to trip the lights into changing. So anybody using one of these would be setting off the emergency lights all along their route. There's also a camera down there that I'd bet records the incident when the cars go through.
I've read the MIRT specs before and actually thought about building one (maybe modifying a remote control, since it is a flashing IR thing) that I could aim out the window and trip the sensors with. Could be entertaining, although I wouldn't have any use for it in real life while driving or anything. That would just be rude. - thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Wow, the snopes link about that was posted at least 4 or 5 times on this very page, and you STILL posted that.
- compu73rg33k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@valleyman
I use proper grammar and spelling to the best of my ability and I bet I can still type faster than you while you don't punctuate, spell words correctly, or practice correct grammar. Once you get used to hitting the extra two keys, I'd say the "extra time" isn't enough to matter. - lavawalker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"... now if I only had someplace to go."
- kstagg, on 10/12/2007, -14/+18SOB may have caused a number of accidents in those 2 years, and he only gets a $50 ticket? WTF?
- bubbagump, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5What an incredibly selfish person. I'm late, so every one else has to wait...
Jerk... - jgclark123, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7@nstern2
The spell-checker is dead for me, too. You wouldn't notice the difference because no one ***** uses it! - liava, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@valleyman86 - Ha, you made my day. It takes a special kind of idiot to act as stupid as you have yet still consider himself smarter than his readers. You tell us to think about it - well, think about this: Take the amount of time you saved typing it and subtract it from the amount of time you have added on to the amount of time required to read it. Furthermore, consider that, normally, things are written only once but read many times (with the possible exception of your above comments). In the end, you are wasting everyone else's time and making it less likely that people will actually read what you write (I know I certainly didn't read it all).
If you are willing to write proper English (even your attempts are proper English were quite poor) for employers, then why don't you write proper English here? The same concept applies - if you can't write, you get ignored at either venue. - aelfrice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'll have to resist acting upon the careless, self-centered, self-proclaimed tech community for ignoring, mostly, the central reason issue..
My father is a firefigher/paramedic in a suburban community of 50,000. He had relayed stories, time and again, of the carelessness of other drivers while they are running with lights and sirens. Their regional departments have installed these light chainging system on many local, high-traffic, routes. Their prime use is in clearing some traffic during rush-hours and in extreme emergencies.
A vehicle that needs to move at speeds of 50mph, or more, needs ample room to stop. Some ***** who employ this hack will induce accidents beyond those of normal drivers who fail to yield.
This practice is dangerous. Please realize that an unlucky use of a device capable of disrupting life-saving personnel is a harsh felony. It should merit punishment.
Just my $.02 from a concerned son. really,
Bryan Carney - Axim, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5no it's not a myth but it doesn't work on all lights. my buddy and i found an intersection by my house that resets to green if you flash your lights a few times at it. definitely not a freak chance because we've done it a few times. i think it's there for when ambulances are going through so it stops traffic in advance
- geekee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Most sensors I know of are buried in the ground and wont be affected by flashing your high beams.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4PLEASE tell me you are not suggesting that "Maryland" was wrong for going after this guy! The only thing they did wrong was only giving him a ticket. Should have gotten worse.
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