MIRT

That can't be legal. What fun it would be to watch 4 people coming from 4 directions toward the same light, thinking they are the only one.

:utredeem:
 
Don't get your hopes up, it's only for authorized personnel. :)

Who Would Use This Product? Take a look…

The following is a representative list of commonly authorized users of Traffic Signal Preemption devices. The regulation (if any) of legal users varies state by state and local by local governing body. In general, Traffic Signal Preemption is typically approved for use by any department or individual who has legitimate need for such a device for conducting business of an official or emergency nature. You should go to your state’s “Department of Transportation” web site link and speak with local authorities to learn the details for your area.

In addition, some areas may not yet have all or any of their traffic lights equipped with the technology that receives the Traffic Signal Preemption signal. You may check with the locality’s Department of Traffic Management.
Potential Users Include:
  • Police
  • Fire (including volunteers)
  • Private detectives
  • Investigators of all kinds
  • Doctors
  • Hospital personnel
  • Paramedics
  • EMS
  • Volunteer 1st Responders
  • Ambulance Personnel
  • Security Personnel
  • Emergency Volunteers
  • HazMat Personnel
  • Traffic Signal Installation workers
  • City & State Highway Workers
  • Community Services personnel
  • Maintenance, & Repair Personnel
  • State and Federal Law Enforcement Officials
  • State and Federal Motorcades
  • Funeral Homes (for processions) Investigative
Click to expand...
 
Brandi told me once that she got the flashing-the-high-beams trick to work. I got kinda annoyed with her for trying that. Last thing we would have needed was yet another ticket. (She didn't get her license until after we got married, so she didn't try the trick before she met me).
 
People are supposed to stop in the vicinity of emergency vehicles anyway, I don't see what kind of advantage this device could give. Emergency vehicles are authorized to run red lights, cross over double lines, and even drive on the wrong side of the street if it's necessary.

Inkara1 said:
Brandi told me once that she got the flashing-the-high-beams trick to work. I got kinda annoyed with her for trying that. Last thing we would have needed was yet another ticket. (She didn't get her license until after we got married, so she didn't try the trick before she met me).
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What trick would that be?
 
From what I've been reading over at the Dodge forum I visit they "ARE" legal. Unlike radar detectors that use radio waves and and therefore under FCC rules this shoots a IR signal ,same as a TV remote ,PDA etc... Kinda hard to regulate.
 
fury said:
People are supposed to stop in the vicinity of emergency vehicles anyway, I don't see what kind of advantage this device could give. Emergency vehicles are authorized to run red lights, cross over double lines, and even drive on the wrong side of the street if it's necessary.
Click to expand...

That's right, plus all emergency vehicles have loudspeakers to give directions to the other vehicles, in some cases they need to tell other vehicles to run a red light (extremelyheavy transit only)
 
Believe me guys, not everyone obeys emergency vehicles or pays attention. We actually had to get out of the ambulance once and knock on a lady's car window to get her to move. At least 25% of the time, people don't see or hear the ambulance or don't know what to do so they slam on their brakes right where they are. Drivers are stupid usually and even more so when they're spooked by an ambulance or fire truck they didn't see coming.

By the way, emergency vehicle operators are not exempt from NYS traffic laws. They just aren't enforced by the police. There were a bunch of cases of police pulling over ambulances for speeding a few years back and finding that they were not on their way to a call and did not have a patient. The ambulance drivers just wanted to get through traffic quicker. So it happens. Not often, but it does.

The light changers are usually only for the traffic light directly in front of the Fire Department or ambulance corps. You've seen those flashing lights, they need to go red so they can pull the rig back in. As far as I know, they don't use them for anything else in this area.
 
A.B.Normal said:
From what I've been reading over at the Dodge forum I visit they "ARE" legal. Unlike radar detectors that use radio waves and and therefore under FCC rules this shoots a IR signal ,same as a TV remote ,PDA etc... Kinda hard to regulate.
Click to expand...

I can't get to that link, it says I have to register. I wouldn't trust anyone who isn't an authority as far as whether it's legal or not. I can't see how it can be unless it's a colossal fuck up that it's been overlooked. Can you imagine these things becoming popular? Omg, you'd never get anywhere. :laugh: Did you see "The Italian Job"? Their job could have been a lot easier if they had one of these.

I guess it could be like radar detectors. Not legal in all places but people use them anyway, right?
 
greenfreak said:
I can't get to that link, it says I have to register.
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My Bad
from the Sunday edition of the Lansing State Journal:

"Published October 26, 2003
Stoplight controller has police worried
MIRT may be hazardous in wrong hands

By Jodi Upton
Special to the State Journal


Now anyone can breeze through congested intersections like the police, thanks to a $300 dashboard device that changes traffic lights from red to green with the press of a button.

But what if everyone had one?

That's the fear of traffic control officials, who say chaos would prevail. That's also the potential facing communities in southeastern Michigan as knockoffs of the device - originally intended only for police and fire vehicles - become available to everyone.

The system of receivers that respond to the device also is in place in Grand Rapids and a $1 million-plus system is about to be installed in the Lansing area.

The dashboard device may be impossible to detect, and it may be perfectly legal anyway.

The knockoffs have traffic engineers investigating whether lockout measures will work against the copycats and whether hundreds of thousands of dollars in technology will become obsolete.

"The potential for chaos is enormous," Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said. "There could be all kinds of trouble with this."

The traffic light changer, called the MIRT for mobile infrared transmitter, emits a beam with a 1,500-foot range to a receiver installed at the intersection, which changes the light immediately, clearing the intersection before a fire or rescue truck approaches.

Unlike such devices as radar jammers and certain laser detectors that emit radio signals, the MIRT and other signal changers emit an infrared beam, so it doesn't run afoul of the Federal Communications Commission, said Chelsea Fallon, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Because Michigan's communities have not invested in the traffic technology as heavily as some states, problems with copycat devices, such as the MIRT, are just beginning to appear.

No current laws apply to the MIRT. While government officials search legal texts for possible legal infractions, dealers are lining up to sell MIRTs.

Tim Gow, who markets the device through his company, FAC, which also sells high-end weapons and accessories to police, said he's not using the Internet to appeal to the public, but only to level the playing field in a David-vs.-Goliath market.

He said he is trying to sell to small police, fire and emergency agencies that can't afford the 3M systems but can afford his $499 device, which is higher than his direct-to-the-dealer price.

Gow said he has rejected some would-be buyers - including a pizza delivery guy. "
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fury said:
What trick would that be?
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There are sensors on some lights (not all) that allow emergency vehicles to interrupt their programmed pattern. The ones I've seen here look like a big "T" sitting atop the middle of the lightpole facing the middle of oncoming traffic. I'll have to see if I can get a pic of one to better explain. Anyway, these rely on a particular strobe pattern to trigger a 4-way red. The strobe is mounted on the top front of an ambulance or fire truck and when approaching a protected intersection, the sensor will recognize the vehicle and act appropriately.

I highly doubt she got it to work. The strobes I've seen are extremely fast and vary in pattern so as to make something like that difficult, if not impossible. She'd have to be at the right angle/distance (the sensors are mounted to coordinate with the height of the approaching vehicle and the distance needed to allow the lights to safely change). Not impossible, but highly unlikely. It'd take a lot of boredom and the right conditions. I'll bet she just approached the intersection at the right time to trigger the embedded traffic signals to immediately change.

They make radar detectors that pick up these strobes (as well as radio beacons on the emergency vehicle) to help warn people. Why you need a radar detector to pick up a strobe that you ought to see in the first place is beyond me.
 
I agree. I see lights and hear siren, I gtf outta the way, even if I don't see the vehicle coming my way. Not only am I legally required to, but I don't think even my full-sized car stands a chance of protecting me in the case of contact with an emergency vehicle. ;)
 
What a clusterfuck this is going to be, at least in Michigan! As if the roads weren't dangerous enough. Thanks for the article A.B. :)
 
Looking through my old pictures, I actually got a pic of one (somehow) when I was in Ft Dodge, IA over the summer.

Its the small thing sticking up just above the turn sign.
 
I just heard the radio news people talking about this a few hours ago.

A.B.Normal said:
From what I've been reading over at the Dodge forum I visit they "ARE" legal. Unlike radar detectors that use radio waves and and therefore under FCC rules this shoots a IR signal ,same as a TV remote ,PDA etc... Kinda hard to regulate.
Click to expand...

All we need is someone to hack one of these things, write a pda program, then you could be driving down the street and use your Palm to change the light. ;) I know I've seen programs to turn your pda into a tv remote.
 
Assuming they are legal, if some shitty little adolescent gets his hands on one, he could cause a LOT of trouble, endanger a LOT of lives and piss off a LOT of people who may or may not be gun-toting women with PMS and a bad hair day. :bolt:
 
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