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Making Traffic Lights Turn Green

M

Melf

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Nov 6, 2002
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trafic lights

is this a ul?

yrs&yrs ago my mate told me "that if u are driving and traffic lights are red and you flash your headlights (going at sertin speed and at a certin distance ) at the traffic lights they will green super fast?"
anyone else know about this?
 
No, I've never heard that one before. To be brutally frank, it doesn't sound overly likely to me, either...
 
My daughter, when she was 3 y.o., was able to change traffic lights by blowing the red one out and clapping the green one on
Sadly, this no longer works -- I guess she no longer believes in her powers.
 
Whoopi Goldberg blew on the traffic lights to make them go green in Corrina Corrina, but sadly, it doesn't work.
Lucky it doesn't really, because if the trick only worked on the lights you were looking at and not the ones in the opposite direction, you'd crash into a car coming the other way!
 
Don't be ridiculous, Spooky
When you 'blow a light out' the resultant back EMF triggers the light control sequencer and alters all of the lights
I'd have thought that was obvious -- tsk
 
Yup.....its insane!

In my town, people are able to remotely change the traffic lights.

All it takes is an acetylene torch, a step ladder and an Idiot.

I remember telling an idiot from my town that if he held the tree, that has just fallen over, upright for three hours then the tree nymphs would come up to the surface and glue it back into place.

The poor idiot did it and it did not work. He asked me why it did'nt work and I told him that the nymphs were on strike. He asked me what that meant and I told him that they did not get enough money for glueing the worlds trees.

He promtly gave me 41 quid and a zippo to try and end the strike. I told him it would certainly get to the right people.

P.S That was not strictly true by the way. I was only 12 and the idiot was 18. I did not take his money and there was no zippo but the rest is true! He did hold that tree as if his life and reputation depended on it. His girlfriend chucked him after that...

......heheheheheheheheheheh......ahhhhh!:cool:
 
IIRC,this applied to temporary sets of traffic lights used at roadworks,they were fitted with sensors so that at times of low traffic volume during the night they would change automatically upon detecting an oncoming cars headlights to save you waiting around for ages when there was no oncoming traffic.
 
regular traffic lights have sensors under the road. You look at the next set you come to and you'll see a diagonal strip cut out in the tarmac! If the first car in the queue dosn't top on the sensor then the lights don't change because the lights don't think anyone is waiting. I have been waiting at lights when the first car had stopped to early and the lights didn't change for about 10 minutes. I got out of my car and told him to go forward onto the sensor and sure enough they changed.
 
A junction round the corner from me has parking all along the edge of the side road, right up to the junction. As a result, there's always cars parked on top of the sensors, so the traffic lights are always on red if you're going along the main road. They'll change after you've got to them and stopped, for just long enough for about three cars to go through and then change straight back to the quieter side road.

Steve.
 
thanx 4 mixed bag of replies keep em coming tho
 
St.Clair said:
All it takes is an acetylene torch, a step ladder and an Idiot.
Click to expand...

That's true of so many things, really.

:D
 
I know where this one comes from! My friend used to believe this because ambulences and fire trucks have flashing lights and always seem to get the green lights to change faster. But in reality they have a switch at the station that switches the lights around the station to green to they can get a faster start on the emergency. My friend was annoying the crap out of me by flashing my lights everytime I drove up to an interscetion, so I did a bit of research.
 
whizzer said:
My daughter, when she was 3 y.o., was able to change traffic lights by blowing the red one out and clapping the green one on
Sadly, this no longer works -- I guess she no longer believes in her powers.
Click to expand...

my five year old can make lights change by clapping, but only if the driver snaps their fingers.

I hope she doesn't stop believing in this, I like it when we are in a hurry! ;)
 
what about those temporary traffic lights at roadworks?

I seem to recall doing this to make them change and it appeared to work.

I guess it could've been wishful thinking tho..............
 
In some parts of Canada and probably the United States there are some cities that have installed a component at the top of traffic lights that detect a stobe light at a certain frequency.

Police, fire and ambulance vehicles in the city are equiped with the strobe and when they are ruhing to an emergency the strobe activates the lights from a certain distance and changes the light to green.

I doubt that flashing your high beams at the sensor would change it though unless you did it at the correct frequency.. You could get lucky I suppose.
 
ot think?

why isit when ur travelling somwhere like 4 eg a job interview etc all the lights r against you? and when your just going anywhere theyre green? cosmic joker???
 
It works in the UK for some traffic lights, generally one's just controlling 2 streams of traffic. Lookout for the little grey boxes (about the size of a rubix's cube...) on top of the lights.

For a specific example, try Lockerbie (Dumfries & Galloway), approach from the west & there's a single track bridge over the west coast rail line. If you flash your headlamps as you approach, the lights change in your favour. (Comes in very handy when running late on the way to the in-laws....)
 
slightly OT but one of my friends recently told me that it was possible to turn off car alarms with a well aimed 'laser pen'
 
You can sort-of influence pedestrian pelican crossings (at least you can in Edinburgh) - wait until there's a gap in the traffic on either side, it only needs to be as far as the white zig-zag lines that emenate from the crossing, and quickly press the button. More often than not, the lights think there is no traffic and change instantly.
 
Sometime in my youth (I can't remember from whom) I heard that if you flash your vehicles headlights on and off at least three times rapidly, you can make a red traffic light you're stuck at change to green. The idea is that traffic lights are sensitive to police and ambulance rollers, and will change to let those vehicles through and that you can simulate the effect of rollers by flashing your headlights.

So I've been turning red lights green by flashing my headlights at them for about twenty years now. I only do this if I'm at one of those interminably long red lights and there's not much traffic though. I've lived all over the United States and if memory serves, this light-changing trick has always worked for me. Every once in awhile I think I see someone else do it as well, so I presume it's either a well kept secret or an urban legend.

Has anyone else heard about this or have I developed a peculiar neurosis? Or both? :lol:
 
:oops: Thanks melf! I did do a search first. Really I did.

EDIT: Finished reading the original "Traffic Lights" thread. Very helpful as I now know I am not an idiot who thinks she has magical headlights. I shall continue flashing at intersections. :D
 
There are some traffic lights here that seem to be movement sensitive. They have little "camera" things on top which presumably have something to do with it. They don't always detect bicycles though I can usually trip them by weaving from side to side as I approach. They are definately sensitive to something as when there is no traffic then they just sit with everything (both directions of lights and pedestrian lights) all at red.
 
Most static traffic lights here in the UK are tripped by pressure pads that are under the road surface, if you look on the road you will see a oblong part of the road surface, that is where the pressure pad is.

However flashing your lights does seem to work at temporary traffic lights.
 
Temporary traffic lights have a sensor thingy on top of them.

For ordinary traffic lights, I find that putting the handbrake on usually makes them change.
 
I, too, suffer from red lights.

I was told that it was due to me not driving a Rolls Royce.

Apparently the very wealthy people get lots of green lights.

I will let you think of this what you may, I for one dont belive that theory...
 
Lobelia Overhill said:
example said:
I shall continue flashing at intersections. :D
Click to expand...

oo-err missus!!
Click to expand...

Woopsie! Clever girl you know what I meant. I suppose that kind of flashing could stop traffic too though . . . . . . . .

EDIT: Don't blame the rich Homo Aves, their servants put their pants on them one leg at a time, just like the rest of us do. ;)
 
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