Does flashing your lights, or rolling back and forth at red lights REALLY make it change faster?

[olds]

MacBaine is correct on the lights. The grooves you see cut into the road are indeed for the wires. Some lights are on timers. Moving back and forth can trigger the light if it's not on a timer. (Some detect the volume of traffic and if you move it thinks there are more cars.) Flashing your lights will do nothing. Weight used to be a factor, it isn't so much anymore but there are still older systems out there.
I work for the CA Dept of Trans, but I haven't worked highways for over 6 years.
Some more info.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Let me clear up the confusion for everybody concerning flashing your lights... Emergency vehicles use what is called an Opticom system. A sensor is mounted on the traffic lights in an intersection. The vehicles have a high-frequency IR strobe light mounted on their roof. When activated, the IR strobe light is set to a specific frequency which the sensor on the lights responds to. Most systems have a small spotlight along with a sensor on them on the traffic light. When the spot light is flashing, it tells the approaching emer, vehicle that it has the right of way, and the light will be green. When the spotlight is solid, the lights will be red in that direction. (The spotlight system was implemented to solve the problem of if two emergency vehicles were approaching the intersection at the same time.)

Flashing your lights to trigger this system doesn't work, it is an urban legend of sorts. Now, on the other hand, you can find plans (read: buy plans) from science magazines and such that will tell you how to build a system that will trigger the Opticom. It is legal to own, but you may get in trouble for using it. (I will let you know if it works when mine is done )

Thank you!

It's so damn painful to see the mis-information out there in people's heads. I didn't know what the system is called, but that's exactly how it works around here.

In my city, most light are on timers (mostly 70 seconds for a full cycle during non-peak times), and all the lights in certain "zones" are synchronized. The timers also run different cycles depending on the time of day. After the emergency vehicles come through and activate the Opticom system, it takes a little while for the traffic signals to resynchronize, so I don't get to run through my routes quite as planned. Sometimes this adds 2-3 minutes to my total trip time, which is frustrating when I'm at work as a delivery driver.

In the burbs, all the lights seem to have vehicle detectors of one kind or another, and they seem to have no rhyme or reason as far as synchronization goes from one intersection to another (which sucks, IMHO). Flashing turn signals and headlights have nothing to do with their operation (how would that work during the day, duh?). I believe it's all about electromagnetic detector loops in the pavement.

 

[amdskip]

We only have one stop light in our ghetto town

 

[Queen of Hearts]

I'm sending this to my bf... he swears up and down that it's honking your horn that makes the stale light change, and it drives me crazy.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Queen of Hearts
I'm sending this to my bf... he swears up and down that it's honking your horn that makes the stale light change, and it drives me crazy.

Honking?!?