Don't emergency service vehicles already have a similiar device? (Or was that just for the Comms Games? :p )
Tell me, which would you deploy
1) a set of traffic lights with a sensor that any [censored] criminal, monied, annachist, etc ) could activate to get a green, or conversely give someone else a red light, or
2) a integrated set of lights that can all be controlled from a central command centre (which already exists) and simply requires ambulance to be fitted with a gps/gsm tracking device and the ability to flick a switch that says "emergency - unfettered path to hospital required" which little man at control centre responds to and sets the lights?
The vast majority of places which have traffic lights which are affected by MIRTs have made their use illegal except by emergency vehicles. They're also fairly easy to detect if the lights have cameras on them (not the enforcement ones, just the traffic observation type) as they emit infrared which shows up as a nice bright light on the screen.
Legalities aside, why should cyclists (or any other road users) have the ability to disrupt traffic flow purely for their own convenience?
Don't emergency service vehicles already have a similiar device? (Or was that just for the Comms Games? :p )
Tell me, which would you deploy
1) a set of traffic lights with a sensor that any [censored] criminal, monied, annachist, etc ) could activate to get a green, or conversely give someone else a red light, or
2) a integrated set of lights that can all be controlled from a central command centre (which already exists) and simply requires ambulance to be fitted with a gps/gsm tracking device and the ability to flick a switch that says "emergency - unfettered path to hospital required" which little man at control centre responds to and sets the lights?
Would think that traffic lights equipped with a sensor system that requires an encripted code to activate (code specific to emergency services) would be the best way to go. The little man might be on his coffee break, or napping, when the call goes out.
Don't emergency service vehicles already have a similiar device? (Or was that just for the Comms Games? :p )
Tell me, which would you deploy
1) a set of traffic lights with a sensor that any [censored] criminal, monied, annachist, etc ) could activate to get a green, or conversely give someone else a red light, or
2) a integrated set of lights that can all be controlled from a central command centre (which already exists) and simply requires ambulance to be fitted with a gps/gsm tracking device and the ability to flick a switch that says "emergency - unfettered path to hospital required" which little man at control centre responds to and sets the lights?
Would think that traffic lights equipped with a sensor system that requires an encripted code to activate (code specific to emergency services) would be the best way to go. The little man might be on his coffee break, or napping, when the call goes out.
When my dad worked for Vic Roads he often had to escort large loads through the city in the wee small hours of the morning. I went one morning and it was really cool the way they would radio the traffic control centre and "request a green". The next lights would change immediately to green and stay green until we had cleared the intersection regardless of how long it took. Often in the city the control centre would simply watch on the traffic cameras and change the traffic lights when they saw us approaching the intersection. I assume it must be manned 24/7.