Electronic devices that can remotely change traffic lights are being sold on the Internet and elsewhere, according to the Detroit News.
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 some intersections. The signal can change a traffic light immediately. MIRTs were developed for police, fire and rescue personnel, but the paper reported that low-cost versions that plug into a cigarette lighter are being sold on the Internet to anyone with the $300 price tag.
The devices work only on those traffic lights equipped with remote sensing equipment, and not on all of those. Some such equipment can lock out signals from unrecognized devices.
Still, said Detroit News writer Jodi Upton in a bylined story, “Police are worried about the possibility of intersection chaos if people duel over control for lights. But even more fundamentally, the dashboard device may be impossible to detect even from a police car right next to it, and it may be perfectly legal anyway.”
"The potential for chaos is enormous," a county sheriff is quoted as saying.
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 some intersections. The signal can change a traffic light immediately. MIRTs were developed for police, fire and rescue personnel, but the paper reported that low-cost versions that plug into a cigarette lighter are being sold on the Internet to anyone with the $300 price tag.
The devices work only on those traffic lights equipped with remote sensing equipment, and not on all of those. Some such equipment can lock out signals from unrecognized devices.
Still, said Detroit News writer Jodi Upton in a bylined story, “Police are worried about the possibility of intersection chaos if people duel over control for lights. But even more fundamentally, the dashboard device may be impossible to detect even from a police car right next to it, and it may be perfectly legal anyway.”
"The potential for chaos is enormous," a county sheriff is quoted as saying.
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