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I drove to city hall today in a motorbike and noticed just how much time I spent waiting at red lighted but otherwise empty intersections. I tell you, it sucks that I have to wait so much until the light changes on its own or until a bigger car comes by (for which the red almost instantly goes green). Infuriating! I must’ve wasted about 25% of my trip waiting on empty intersections gnashing my teeth but unable to run the red light because of traffic cameras.

So a little research led me to some very interesting little known hacks that will help me get the green light everytime! You want to save gas and truckloads of time? Do yourself a favor and read on.

First off, some disclaimers

The knowledge put forth here are purely academical in nature. We have researched the methods and gadgets herein described and tickle your fancy with some rather interesting possible applications. However, we reiterate that these are simply for academic purposes and that they should NEVER be used for anything illegal.

Now that those are out, you know that the information that comes next oughta be good. =)

How traffic lights work in the U.S.

Here in the good ole US of A, traffic lights work on a queueing system that puts premium on traffic density and waiting time. How would the traffic lights “know” that there are more cars on your side of the intersection or that you have waited longer than anyone else? It’s the same system they use in Mickey D’s drive-thru, where they embed a loop of wire that detects any nearby electromagnetic field (everything with matter emits an electromagnetic field of sorts, but the wires for these usually detect those coming from machinery like cars, trucks, etc). Meaning, a machinery of sorts that is bigger than the size of your small coupe or about the size of your regular sedan will trip it.

Someone on the net figured out how they can activate or trigger the device even if you are using a small car or even a motorcycle! The mechanism is simple - you just attach some powerful neodymium magnets to the underside of your cycle perpendicular to the road and you are set.

The above condition is all good for smaller vehicles, but still do not let you change red lights to green. It simply allows smaller vehicles to register as bigger ones and let them note that a big vehicle is on queue.

Pedestrian influence

Pedestrians also exert some control over traffic signals via pedestrian buttons such as these.

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Getting the green

For real control over the traffic lights from a moving vehicle, one has to turn to a little-known feature of US traffic lights. Most intersection lights have an infrared scanner that allows emergency vehicles to pre-empt traffic light scheduling systems. Meaning, ambulances, fire trucks, and police vehicles emit an infrared signal that the sensors catch - which will make them turn green for the said emergency vehicle almost instantly! These are MIRTs or mobile infrared transmitters.

Of course, using a MIRT is almost always strictly for emergency vehicles (check with your local laws before using one as it could be illegal in some states). But human ingenuity always finds a way! There is this guy who discusses how to make one from scratch and there is another guy who teaches you how to use a normal universal remote to do the same job.

Getting away with it

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Of course, there is one big problem: getting caught. Most heavy traffic intersections have traffic cameras that take pictures of cars getting into intersections and most of them can capture the tell-tale IR beam that comes from your remote control or MIRT.

So the solution then is not to actually use MIRTs, or, turn to methods of hiding your face (via heavilly tinted windows) and hiding your plate number via reflectorized license plate sprays.

Parting shot

We reiterate that this is purely academic conjecturing at methods of saving gas and time by making sure you always get a green light. These techniques and gadgets should NEVER be used for anything illegal.

Please use this knowledge wisely, if everyone has the technique and uses it indiscriminately then it would mean utter road chaos. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, eh?