Buy a traffic light control device

No more waiting at stoplights when you’re in a hurry!

CAN’T be real, but it’s worth a giggle. Check it out. This is going striaght in my ‘Weird and wonderful links’ thread when I get round to starting one.

http://www.themirt.com/

Actually in the good old days I remember that flashing the car headlights from high to low beam a few times would have the same effect on a traffic light. I tried it a few times and it worked.

Perhaps it isn’t a hoax but you’d need the traffic signals in Taiwan to be operating using the same system.

Not so silly really.

It is real. The emergency services use them. But imagine what they would do in the hands of an amateur… or if anyone could get one… the death and destruction doesn’t bear thinking about…

Probably be on sale in Taiwan very soon

I don’t doubt the technology is real, but selling Joe Public a device for changing the lights from red to green can’t be legal for safety reasons surely?

But then again, those speed camera detectors are still commonplace in Taiwan despite numerous crackdowns. What happens though when everyone gets a MIRT thingy installed? It’s going to be like a disco at every intersection.

Now THAT’s silly! :slight_smile:

It’s definitely real, and it’s definitely illegal. It only works though when the intersection’s lights have the sensors for the device installed, so it probably won’t work in Taiwan. In the cities in North America where it is installed, they are working on a lockout protocol now, so only the emergency vehicles (police, fire, ambulance) that they were originally meant for can use them.

Article from CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/11/05/traffic.lights.ap/index.html

As for radar detectors, they are on their way to being legal in Taiwan now. The legislation is in the works, but the rules have been changed as well, such as moving to a points-based system on your license when you get tickets, higher fines, etc.

Article from the China Post:

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/archive/detail.asp?cat=1&id=40050