It was on the news last night that there is a piece of equipment called a MIRTA that is sold for about $300 and it controls the stoplights.
Seems that stoplights are now being installed with infrared signals so that the lights can sense the police and fire lights and will change accordingly.
But people are buying up these MIRTA’s and controlling their stoplight experience.
This sounds kinda fun. I hate the stop light at Alafaya Trail. I think I will limit my waiting time to ugh…30 seconds! Yeah that’s the ticket.
Can you imagine the chaos this will cause if many people were to buy this MIRTA?
Holy cow, Isabelle! The first light I thought of when I saw the thread title was the light at Alafaya and Colonial. I actually saw this in action: I heard an ambulance coming, but no traffic was moving through the intersection: all lights were red! Either it was this device or something similar to it.
But…theses MIRTAs don’t have security/credentialing built into them? hmmmm…
That is the light I was thinking of! Ha ha what a coincidence! No security is involved at this time. And it is NOT illegal to purchase them and operate them. They are being sold on E-bay for $300. I am looking for a cite now. Will post later if I find it.
You might want to check your local laws and regulations. The DAs might just decide to charge unauthorized users with tampering with the traffic lights since that is what you are doing.
Not to mention that all they have to do is program the lights to go all red instead of green in the direction of the MIRT. You won’t accomplish anything but making everyone wait longer.
It’s said that you can change light signals to green just by flashing your brights quickly a few times. I think it’s the strobe effect that some signals are sensitive to.
Now, I’m sure it is illegal to do this, but I’ve tried it a couple of times and it sure has worked. Coincidence? Dunno, but it sure turned to green awful fast, and the opposing traffic got only about a half second of yellow.
Been there before… I worked at the Papa John’s on Alafaya & Colonial for a year and a half
The flashing brights thing works, but only if you’re on a slight incline- upward towards the lights themselves, and I wouldn’t suggest trying it in front of a cop…
I have controlled traffic lights for years. They always change to red when I approach. In fact, I don’t actually call them traffic lights, I call them red lights.
I don’t ever get to go through a lighted intersection without stopping unless I’m a passenger in someone else’s car.
I could buy one of those devices, but I’m afraid the universe would explode before it would let me have a nice drive.
Just a friendly reminder, folks: Activating traffic signal overrides, if you are not an emergency personel person going to an emergency, is HIGHLY ILLEGAL, not to mention obnoxious.
In case anyone cares, those $300 devices are simply strobe lights with IR filters. One site I saw claimed they blinked at 14 Hz, but that seems a little fast to me. All I know is that bought a strobe light on clearance at Radio Shack and it’s time to see if I can’t hit way more green lights.
I had heard that claim for years, but have never tried it out. However, I have noticed that the local school buses now have a flashing white light on top and have often wondered if the reason was to help speed things along and change the traffic lights. I know, I know, there is another obvious reason - to aid in people seeing them. BUT, the damn things are huge and yellow, they gotta be visible already…
I’m pretty sure they’re to increase early morning visibility- Florida high school buses, for example, may pick up students as early as 6:15 am, when it can be pretty dark.
