Here in MA, some of the traffic lights can be controlled by emergency vehicles.
Today, a local traffic light behaved a bit unusual. I suspect (but can’t prove it) that somebody had one of these “things” and decided to “extend” the green in his direction for 10-15 seconds.
Are these devices universal or are they programmed to only behave in certain jurisdictions? I’d love to have one. I’m sure we’d all love to have one. It would save us time and “tough noogies” to the other guy. I conclude, therefore, that the possession of such a device is illegal. How illegal?
What safeguards are in place to inhibit people getting one of these devices for their own benefit? Is usage logged so that unusual activity would be noticed? If a fire truck uses such a device when responding to a fire, do they have to log it? etc.
They are devices mounted on the top of police and fire trucks (although I believe some systems use the flashing lights). The ones I’ve seen in eastern Mass have a visible flashing light on the top of the streetlights that indicates when they have been activated. There’s no way someone could use these without attracting attention.
The traffic lights in the Chicago area which can be manipulated in this way have those flashing lights on the booms, as well. So, it’s obvious that someone has triggered them. I probably see this happen once a month or so – the white lights on the traffic light booms start flashing, the lights suddenly change…but there’s no sign of an emergency vehicle.
What’s not obvious, i don’t think, is who’s done it. My understanding (I’d be happy to be proven wrong) is that the “triggering device” itself isn’t terribly obvious.
Stay unhappy, I’m afraid. One of the manufacturers of the devices makes a big sales point over how small and non-obvious their units are, so they can be mounted on undercover units and motorcycles:
I see the flashing lights activated all the time on the booms whenever emergency vehicles are approaching. It’s like a signal to drivers “attention! emergency vehicle approaching!”
They must be somehow directionally activated (either by line of sight or GPS) since they always seem to know which lights in an intersection to leave green vs. red.
if all directions turned red then lanes would be blocked by stopped vehicles. you want the lanes in the direction of emergency travel go green and clear out.
Some cities (particularly ones that don’t have real rapid transit) give similar transponders to busses. I don’t know if it’s an instant green like for an ambulance, but when there’s a bus they switch around the signal timing to its favor.
The links I gave indicated that some of the devices have a couple of different modes of operation - emergency vehicles can flip red to green, while another mode allows public transit vehicles to extend the green so they don’t have to stop.
In Sacramento on at least one route the buses can also control the lights. NO one in my family believes it but on at least four occasions I have sat at the left-turn light through one or more cycles without getting a green arrow…followed quite soon by a bus turning left from the opposite side. Once the bus goes through the cycles go back to normal.
Interesting reason for the flashing indicator lights:
In case multiple first responders are traveling toward an intersection at the same time, the solid light indicates in the direction of the vehicle that triggered the signal first. The indicator then flashes in the other three directions to warn the other emergency vehicle(s) of the presence of the first vehicle and basically give right of way. It doesn’t take much imagination to picture two firetrucks colliding having each assumed the intersection was clear.
