blinking your highbeams like a cop

[homeworld1031tx]

i was driving home with my friend today from chilis after a hs football game in his 99 passat, and when he pulled up to a stop light that had just turned red a second before we got there, he started flashing his highbeams really fast for like 4 seconds randomlly. so i obviously asked him why he is being stupid and burning out this filaments and right when i finished the light turned green. then he went on to explain that its cause the sensors on the light detect the blinking as emergency lights (from like a police of firetruck) and if u repeat it really quickly, the lights cycle through and let you go.
so my question is: is this superstitous bs, or do any of you guys know if its for real?

[TRD_Celica00]

i dont think so, superstition?

[pnoy]

It's a myth. You can't blink your light rapidly to activate emergency green light. Your friend is pretty much stupid for believing it.

[ekindbest]

lol there is no such thing as emergency green unless its operate by a 911 operator or some1 over the phone by cops.....cuz cops here had their sirens and lights on all the time in the city and the lights are still red....(well that's the reason they got siren and blinking lights to tell people they're in a hurry and get the fuk outta their way lol)

[homeworld1031tx]

yea i was thinking it was superstition, but when he did it today it went on basically isntantly, and we weren't on the main road, we were on a small road that was intersecting the main road so naturally you would think we would get like a minute long wait even at night...btw it is possible to cycle the higbeams fast enough to imitate something close enough to an emergency light, just not multiple emergency lights.

[LightningRod]

Sounds like coincidence to me.

[CeliFromHelli]

nah ambulances have things in them to change the lights when needed. I'm positive about that, i bet police cars do but if its not a life or death situation, they probably don't use them. Some guy bought one on ebay and got busted for it just like last year. I'm also sure that the sensor has nothing to do with flashing lights so this kid you met is obviously an idiot

[timm3r]

i heard the same thing too, although that was a long time ago that i heard it and i was very young. I tried it after i got my license and its total bs.

[Hyung]

lol...

[getmadboy]

i think it's true, just because of the fact that some of the stop lights i've been stopped at don't have the floor sensors. so due to this fact, i'm assuming the stop lights had a light sensor which would detect the headlights and then change from red to green. just my .02

...or maybe it was just coincidence :shrugs:

[imp]

i think it's true, just because of the fact that some of the stop lights i've been stopped at don't have the floor sensors.

How do you know? Also, even if it doesn't have weight sensors, it would jsut run on a timer...not light sensors. At least thats my understanding.

[jayspeedy24]

it doesnt work..i do it from time to time and i flash at the lights like a disco party...

[silverCELICAgt-s]

it is true.
On certain newer street lights, that are major intersections, there is a sensor. The sensor is for a device that the police and fire, emt, etc have. This device emitts a certain type of of something that has to do with a similar effect of quickly flashing your headlights very fast.

For now you are able to buy them on ebay and from canada, i am pretty sure that th duplicate product of what they have is outlawed or soon to be.

[fokai]

i think it's true, just because of the fact that some of the stop lights i've been stopped at don't have the floor sensors. so due to this fact, i'm assuming the stop lights had a light sensor which would detect the headlights and then change from red to green. just my .02

...or maybe it was just coincidence :shrugs:
so how would it sense your headlight during the day?

[Blue Bomber]

it is true.
On certain newer street lights, that are major intersections, there is a sensor. The sensor is for a device that the police and fire, emt, etc have. This device emitts a certain type of of something that has to do with a similar effect of quickly flashing your headlights very fast.

For now you are able to buy them on ebay and from canada, i am pretty sure that th duplicate product of what they have is outlawed or soon to be.
It's a infrared light, so you can't see it, but the sensors on certain lights can. It can be picked up easily by camera, so it's also easy to get caught using one. Big fines for that.

[Burrcold]

http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/strobe.asp

[styphon]

Our ambulance squad could only change the light right next to the station. There was a button in the bay that you hit and by the time you got to the intersection, it would always be green. We had no equipment in the ambulances to turn other lights green, we'd just run them "lights and sirens"

[FenixGt]

It's a infrared light, so you can't see it, but the sensors on certain lights can. It can be picked up easily by camera, so it's also easy to get caught using one. Big fines for that.

:werd: you can find them on the internet.. if you are caught, just give up. :chuckles:

[v3bahumut]

The thing that emergency vehicles use to change certain lights is called a MIRT. Mobile Infrared Transmitter (http://www.themirt.com/)

Highly illegal if your not an emergency vehicle, It is now actually a federal offense thanks to the Safe Intersections Act of 2005 (http://www.theorator.com/bills109/hr1122.html)
Most lights when activated by a MIRT will log the event, and when they realized that no emergency vehicle passed through there, they will pull up street cams if applicable, or if it becomes frequent (I.E. you use it every day going to work) they are just going to post cops near lights, then its bye bye time.

[homeworld1031tx]

we'll the new bill that v3 is talking about is going to sway me away from usinganything like that, whether it be flashing my highbeams or w\e...that sucks though it would have been cool to be able to control some of the traffic lights.

[SickCelica696]

First off hes dumb. Traffic lights work off of electromagnetic fields, not light.

As far as the switching systems, as bomber said their infared and you have to match the exact pulse of the transmitter with the receiver with is like 17p/s. Not to mention their only on major intersections not all of them..

[gameboi]

hey, i do this all the time, but it only works on certain lights, some lights are timed, so no matter how much you flash its not going to work. but for the ones that do work, it works because there is some sensor,of some sort, that reads heat or something(i dont know what excatly) and when you high beam it, it reads it, and like a sec or two later it will change the light for you....

[oONoGoAutoOo]

Sounds like coincidence to me.

:werd:

[po9i]

works on most traffic lights in S FL...ive been doing it for years...

[NoRulzAt140 Mph]

lol there is no such thing as emergency green unless its operate by a 911 operator or some1 over the phone by cops.....cuz cops here had their sirens and lights on all the time in the city and the lights are still red....(well that's the reason they got siren and blinking lights to tell people they're in a hurry and get the fuk outta their way lol)

It's a myth. You can't blink your light rapidly to activate emergency green light. Your friend is pretty much stupid for believing it.

nah ambulances have things in them to change the lights when needed. I'm positive about that, i bet police cars do but if its not a life or death situation, they probably don't use them. Some guy bought one on ebay and got busted for it just like last year. I'm also sure that the sensor has nothing to do with flashing lights so this kid you met is obviously an idiot


i think it's true, just because of the fact that some of the stop lights i've been stopped at don't have the floor sensors. so due to this fact, i'm assuming the stop lights had a light sensor which would detect the headlights and then change from red to green. just my .02

...or maybe it was just coincidence :shrugs:
so how would it sense your headlight during the day?

First off hes dumb. Traffic lights work off of electromagnetic fields, not light.

As far as the switching systems, as bomber said their infared and you have to match the exact pulse of the transmitter with the receiver with is like 17p/s. Not to mention their only on major intersections not all of them..



Some lights. Not all. Some lights have signs posted on them that say "pull up to 'x' spot to activate green". Most lights have them due to lack of traffic. A main street will have priority over a side street, but at night when the main street is less busy and side streets have even less cars, you pull up and the lights of your car WILL change it green. If you notice, AS SOON as you drive through they will change right back to red.

They dont work at the daytime so that regular heavy traffic wont get slowed down by the ONE guy at the side street. They stay red until the car clears the sensor letting the light know there is a waiting car, and if there is no car within reasonable distance of the main street, the light may start changing even befor eyou fully stop at it, while if there are a few cars it will change once the last car clears the interscetion.

[kmlgts]

it work most of the time.

[jonnyess]

works on most traffic lights in S FL...ive been doing it for years...


{ah-haaa - so you're the one??}














:wtf:

[Mongokid]

no its true it works only at night though but during the day it wont work cuzz i do it all the time at night just to go by and there is a switch inside the lights to turn at night and goes by a timer but if u falsh than it works but only on new street lights now if its old than it takes a while and than you get out your car and push the walk button lol................ But it does work

[iamstidi]

First off hes dumb. Traffic lights work off of electromagnetic fields, not light.

As far as the switching systems, as bomber said their infared and you have to match the exact pulse of the transmitter with the receiver with is like 17p/s. Not to mention their only on major intersections not all of them..

You are wrong because light and electromagnetic fields are essentially the same thing. All light is an electromagnetic wave with a certain wavelength, in the spectrum of light. All wavelengths of light emit an electromagnetic field. Humans can only detect a range of wavelengths of lights, which is what we can see with our naked eye. All other wavelengths of light are invisible to us, such as infrared or microwave light.
:chiggy:

[elcelicagts]

norulz right,

havent any off you been stuck on a light for ever. this stupid light does it all the time close to where i live. and i have to move my car back/forth till it picks me up and changes. i think the sensor is worn out. its funny cuz theirs a restaurant near by, and when your eating their you can see cars strugle with it, sometimes running the red light.

[2way]

Traffic lights work off of electromagnetic fields, not light.
You are wrong because light and electromagnetic fields are essentially the same thing. All light is an electromagnetic wave with a certain wavelength, in the spectrum of light. All wavelengths of light emit an electromagnetic field. Humans can only detect a range of wavelengths of lights, which is what we can see with our naked eye. All other wavelengths of light are invisible to us, such as infrared or microwave light.Microwave light? No such thing.. lol. Microwave radiation.. yes.

Radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and all the other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are fundamentally the same thing. They are all electromagnetic radiation.

What SickCelica696 was referring to are the electromagnetic sensors implanted in the roadway to detect the change in their magnetic field caused by a vehicle being present.

As for pre-emption sensors... the common ones are MIRT, 3M Opticom

[Automaton]

This thread seriously needs to be moved to OT. It is chock full of winnarz.

[McCelicaGTS]

well I know that at a light especailly newer ones at night you pull up and it will change for you if there is no traffic. During the day Im not sure but what happened with your friend could have been the same situation.

[Speck102]

It doesn't work. Trust me.

[2way]

well I know that at a light especailly newer ones at night you pull up and it will change for you if there is no traffic. Because of this:
the electromagnetic sensors implanted in the roadway to detect the change in their magnetic field caused by a vehicle being present.

[treeh8r]

I heard, that if you pull up to the light and its red, you sing "amazing grace" and the light will turn green. My friends, cousin's, girlfriend did it and it worked.

[LightningRod]

I thought that intersections detected cars when they rolled over sensors buried under the concrete ...

They're pretty easy to find. There's usually one or two right before the pedestrian crosswalk white line (ie where you stop if the light is red), and they almost always have one in left/right turn lanes where the said lanes are mediated by its own arrows. In major traffic intersections, they might even have them both up front and at about 300 feet back (to detect "long lines" of cars).

As for how they look like ... they're big black circular outlines on the ground, and they're covered up with black asphalt. Look for them when you drive today!

[jayspeedy24]

i like how 2way gives a scientific explaination and right after it some guy just says "yeah it doesnt work" lol

[homeworld1031tx]

I thought that intersections detected cars when they rolled over sensors buried under the concrete ...

They're pretty easy to find. There's usually one or two right before the pedestrian crosswalk white line (ie where you stop if the light is red), and they almost always have one in left/right turn lanes where the said lanes are mediated by its own arrows. In major traffic intersections, they might even have them both up front and at about 300 feet back (to detect "long lines" of cars).

As for how they look like ... they're big black circular outlines on the ground, and they're covered up with black asphalt. Look for them when you drive today!

I've never, ever seen one of those before :wtf: . I thought they just have megnetic coils under the group that detect that stuff

[2way]

I've never, ever seen one of those before :wtf: . I thought they just have megnetic coils under the group that detect that stuff
The group? As for the magnetics...I've seen 2 versions... small wire loop that is buried in a circle or rectangle... the other looks like a stick of dynamite (you'd never see it - its buried)... with a single lead. i like how 2way gives a scientific explanation and right after it some guy just says "yeah it doesnt work" lol
In honor of Jay's astute powers of observation... :bowdown:
I offer this for homeworld1031tx, et al: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question234.htm

;)

[LightningRod]

In honor of Jay's astute powers of observation... :bowdown:
I offer this for homeworld1031tx, et al: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question234.htm

;)

Ah! So I was right? :naughty:

[SickCelica696]

In honor of Jay's astute powers of observation... :bowdown:
I offer this for homeworld1031tx, et al: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question234.htm

;)
*cough* I said that 30 posts ago *endcough*

[vegeta4ss]

North Carolina has these things all over the larger cities especially Charlotte, Wilmington, and Greensboro/Raliegh areas. I can't take advantage though because my car is too low for the top of my beam cutoff to hit the sensor. So i just look retarded trying to trigger it, so I stopped long ago.

[SLVR Stealth]

I got stuck at a left turn waiting for the green which took 20 minutes to turn green off Convoy here in San Diego going to the Hobby People. I soooooo wanted to run the red light because it was safe but did not want to get busted. Who knows if the cops were screwing around that day with the lights. But this certain stop light is always doing this same crap I believe the timing is off. What a pain in the a$$ is was. Some lights don't have sensors for jack. At night they would stay red even when no other cars are even in the area I think it is stupid. Some have sensor plates, sensors on tops, and dectors for cops, ambulance, etc.

[2way]

*cough* I said that 30 posts ago *endcough*
Ah yup;) Now, can we let this thread die a natural death?