Writer's Noose

Do you hate red lights as much as I do?

Then do something about it.

Tired of sitting at endless red lights? Frustrated by lights that turn from green to red too quickly, trapping you in traffic?

Now anyone can breeze through congested intersections just like the police, thanks to a $300 dashboard device that changes traffic lights from red to green, making nasty commutes a thing of the past and leaving other drivers open-mouthed at your ability to manipulate traffic.

This little beauty abuses the emergency light change system that is in place on many traffic lights. You know the one that lets ambulances and fire trucks change the light so they can clear an intersection faster.

It works on an infrared system so it is not a violation of any Federal Communications Commission rules.

There is a good bit of consternation about it. What will happen if several people have the device at the same intersection? The digital version of Dueling Banjos? Even one person using this in a metropolitan area could quickly throw off the traffic patterns and start a gridlock.

So what can be done about it? It doesn't seem to violate any existing laws. I'm sure that some blanket traffic rules could be cited - Impeding the flow of traffic or some such. I can guarantee that if abuse of the system causes an accident or it delays an emergency vehicle that the powers that be would be able to charge the violator with something. If the violator could be identified, that is.

According to the article the device is being targeted to smaller police and emergency services that can't afford the professional product marketed by 3M. That's nice but eventually there's going to be a distributor that sees profit in selling to the masses.

The newest of the light changing systems can be programmed to lock out these devices but upgrading to such a system will cost thousands of dollars per intersection.

The solution of legislators is, of course, to initate new legislation. Is that the answer? If radar/laser detectors are any barometer then no, it isn't.

I expect that a bunch of people will be spending a good chunk of change on these things and that the majority of municipalities will spend a whole lot more to protect against them. 3M and the company that is making these will get richer, everybody else won't, and in a relatively short time they will be a useless item.

Posted by Charles at October 28, 2003 08:57 AM