Taxi GPS 'can change traffic lights'

Basq

To quote Will Smith in Indepedence Day - "I have got to get me one of these!"..

Source

Any taxi drivers on here know of these... and where I can get one?

Sounds a bit fishy to me tbh!

smash

I didn't know that traffic lights had wifi/bluetooth/whatever. I call bullshít.

SunnyDub1

Sounds like aload of bullsh*t TBH

jameshayes

lol - it april 1st again or something?

Seachmall

BS.

When I was a kid my aunt told us if you blow at the traffic lights really hard they'll change.

It worked every time. Except the times it didn't, but who remembers those times?

Elevator close buttons don't work either.

28064212

Taxi driver/politician (and Independent journalist) in "does not understand how GPS works" shocker. A GPS receiver doesn't send any signals

kincsem

you would swallow a brick

Dyr

When did taxi drivers ever give a f**k about traffic lights?

seamus

Surely if taxi drivers were able to change the lights with their GPS boxes, they would turn them green, and not red? :rolleyes:

What a fncking numpty. Complete waste of council time and money.

Gee Bag

An investigation has been launched? into what? How f*ckwits get elected to be county councillors?

granturismo

I answered my phone once when standing beside a traffic light and the light turned green. Where do I market this magic device.

Wossack

seamus wrote: »

Surely if taxi drivers were able to change the lights with their GPS boxes, they would turn them green, and not red? :rolleyes:

What a fncking numpty. Complete waste of council time and money.

not when carrying a fare..! any way to increase the length of a journey

but yea, whole story sounds pretty ludicrous

Biggins

Meh!
Amateurs!
I use 'The Force'.

frag420

granturismo wrote: »

I answered my phone once when standing beside a traffic light and the light turned green. Where do I market this magic device.

On the other side of the road..........

poisonated

I remember when the independent was a good news paper. That was a very long time ago though!

Run_to_da_hills

Some traffic lights have built in RFID enabled sensors to give emergency vehicles or public transport priority access, unless the GPS in question was fitted with one of these or there was some frequency conflict with another RFID transmitter such as the eFlow chip it could possibly trigger something.

Biggins

poisonated wrote: »

I remember when the independent was a good news paper. That was a very long time ago though!

Jeasus!
...You that old too?

Trevor Kent

The system used for the emergency vehicle works on radio signals. The vehicle needs to have a transmitter which sends out one of two possible pairs of "CODED" signals that are decoded by a pair of filters.

Unless the taxi car has this system fitted, the Taxi man is talking balls. An investigation is not needed if he thinks his GPS did it.

bananarama22

Seachmall wrote: »

BS.

When I was a kid my aunt told us if you blow at the traffic lights really hard they'll change.

It worked every time. Except the times it didn't, but who remembers those times?

Elevator close buttons don't work either.

They do sometimes, some elevators are programmed or wired to make use of them, some aren't. It's like having an extra lightswitch in your house that's not actually connected to any light, but the house just came with it by default.

LLU

I was amazed, nay excited, I wanted one.
Then I saw it was in the independent and thought 'oh well'.
To condense this thread into one sentence:

Bloke sits in car with a satnav, sees pedestrian lights go green to red with nobody around, concludes it must be his satnav which did it, tells the independent, independent prints story.

LLU

and the other annoying bit is that every presenter on every national radio station will lift this from the paper and have a lengthy discussion about it.

c_man

It was front page of the local rag, gotta be true.

kylith

So what happens if there's 2 taxis, one going one way and the other coming from the right? Do all the light turn red and they have to sit there forever? If this were even remotely true it'd play hell with the traffic flow.

I was driving up the road last night and all the lights turned green as we drew near them. The only logical answer must be that my phone turned the lights green.

Duggy747

Neo drives a taxi?

Recession must have hit Zion, too.

Paparazzo

An enquiry for this? Jesus wept, I had to check the date on the article to make sure it wasn't an april fool article left up on the website. Old people shouldn't be let near technology.

Joe Duffy was convinced his Leap card could work his photocopier.

kylith

Paparazzo wrote: »

Joe Duffy was convinced his Leap card could work his photocopier.

Bwahahahaha! How did he come to that conclusion?

I was in a taxi in the am before. At every traffic light when nobody was around he would start flashing his lights.

He claimed it would make them change. I had a good chuckle the whole way home.

Stark

kylith wrote:

Bwahahahaha! How did he come to that conclusion?

He has to come out with these things every now and again so he can pretend to be down on the level with his callers.

The only thing interesting to come of the story is it shows that the buttons on the pedestrian lights were there just for show.

hardCopy

Bullsh, it's obviously a ghost.

Seachmall

Stark wrote: »

The only thing interesting to come of the story is it shows that the buttons on the pedestrian lights were there just for show.

Ah, we're so easily appeased.

gubbie

Basq wrote: »

To quote Will Smith in Indepedence Day - "I have got to get me one of these!"..

Source

Any taxi drivers on here know of these... and where I can get one?

Sounds a bit fishy to me tbh!

Taxi drivers shouldn't have them but bus drivers should. They have them in Switzerland. If they have to turn right and there is oncoming traffic, I dunno how, but communication happens and suddenly the bus can turn

It's genius!

Dave!

They spoke about this bollox on Newstalk too. Fcuking goons.

Professey Chin

And these are the people who rise into power.................
Can anyone recommend a good place to live that isnt here?

mconigol

kirving

How are idiots like this still being elected?! GPS is a pretty simple concept really.

Plazaman

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Some traffic lights have built in RFID enabled sensors to give emergency vehicles or public transport priority access, unless the GPS in question was fitted with one of these or there was some frequency conflict with another RFID transmitter such as the eFlow chip it could possibly trigger something.

^^^ What he said. However there is no (known and/or marketable) device that is a GPS and a pre-emptive traffic light system in it unless it was made by the person themselves (and I doubt this Councillor is much of an electronic engineer).

AFAIK (and I'm open to correction) there is no such system in place in any City in Ireland. Emergency Vehicles have the ability to lower electronic pedestrian bollards via a system similar to RFID but not traffic lights.

opinion guy

gubbie wrote: »

Taxi drivers shouldn't have them but bus drivers should. They have them in Switzerland. If they have to turn right and there is oncoming traffic, I dunno how, but communication happens and suddenly the bus can turn

It's genius!

Why should busses have them ? They already have their own lanes. THey don't need ability to control traffic lights. That would rightly f**k up traffic flow int he city given the number of busses on certain roads

blowtorch

Gee Bag wrote: »

An investigation has been launched? into what? How f*ckwits get elected to be county councillors?

And some of those self same ****wits then get elected to Government.

Listen, wasn't it only recently that there was uproar of sorts when it was learned that councillors went on courses (to Killarney I think) on how to use Facebook (or was it how to turn on a computer). We need these type of people, as otherwise good Comedy might never reach our screens (Father Ted / Kilnaskully etc.etc.)

Could be that traffic lights are set to change automatically, just in case there are some umpa lumpas waiting that can't reach the button?

120_Minutes

cisk wrote: »

I was in a taxi in the am before. At every traffic light when nobody was around he would start flashing his lights.

He claimed it would make them change. I had a good chuckle the whole way home.

I have heard this before, claims that certain traffic lights have a sensor that picks up headlight flashes of a car stopped at said lights, as long as the other lanes are unoccupied the lights changed. designed for use late at night so you're not waiting ages at empty light.

i was sceptical too.

Baneblade

i do think the new lights have sensors on them that will change the lights at smaller junctions during off peak hours if a car stops at a junction and no traffic is present in the other direction.

i dont drive but i have noticed some lights change a lot faster at night when a car pulls up to them and its not a major intersection

and guess whos going to have to pay for this "investigation"

Paparazzo

kylith wrote: »

Bwahahahaha! How did he come to that conclusion?

He reckoned he swiped his card on the photocopier, but when he got back to his desk his photocopier card was there and the card in his pocket was his leap card. He reckoned his name came up on the photocopier display and everything!
Guy on the radio from Leap said customers name isn't even stored digitally on the card. Then joe started to go quiet about it

Flincher

I've convinced my nephew that I can change the lights whenever I wanted. If we are stopped junctions where you can see the lights for traffic coming a different direction, when the other lights turn red, I shout "CHANGESKI LIGHTSKI NOWSKI", and our lights go green.

M cebee

i just tried it and it works

no shiit!

28064212

120_Minutes wrote: »

I have heard this before, claims that certain traffic lights have a sensor that picks up headlight flashes of a car stopped at said lights, as long as the other lanes are unoccupied the lights changed. designed for use late at night so you're not waiting ages at empty light.

i was sceptical too.

Baneblade wrote: »

i do think the new lights have sensors on them that will change the lights at smaller junctions during off peak hours if a car stops at a junction and no traffic is present in the other direction.

i dont drive but i have noticed some lights change a lot faster at night when a car pulls up to them and its not a major intersection

and guess whos going to have to pay for this "investigation"

They are not new at all, they've been around for years. I'm surprised at how many people don't know how traffic light sensors work. This is what they look like: http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID10846/images/InductiveLoopSensor%281%29.jpg. A groove is cut into the tarmac, the wire is laid, then they're sealed back up. You can see them very clearly if you look at the ground just before the white line. Here's an explanation of how they work: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/question234.htm

It's hilarious to watch idiots who don't know that you're supposed to stop before the white line at lights, then sit there complaining about how long the lights take to change

Professey Chin

28064212 wrote: »

It's hilarious to watch idiots who don't know that you're supposed to stop before the white line at lights, then sit there complaining about how long the lights take to change

Happened to me coming home from work once. Car in front of me was too far back so the lights kept skipping our junction. Ended up having to get out and tell him to move up for the switch to realise he was there.

seamus

120_Minutes wrote: »

I have heard this before, claims that certain traffic lights have a sensor that picks up headlight flashes of a car stopped at said lights, as long as the other lanes are unoccupied the lights changed. designed for use late at night so you're not waiting ages at empty light.

This came from a US urban myth because some lights over there had sensors which could detect the lights from emergency vehicles (but ignored normal vehicles).

phill106

Perhaps his gps had a MIRT Device

Mylow

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

Happened to me coming home from work once. Car in front of me was too far back so the lights kept skipping our junction. Ended up having to get out and tell him to move up for the switch to realise he was there.

Or the ones who cross over the white line then wonder why the light's dont change for them.

dilallio

Here's an update from today's Galway Indo.
Looks like councillor/taxi-driver Frank Fahy was correct in his allegations.

http://galwayindependent.com/stories/item/2051/2012-17/Council-to-tackle-rogue-junctions

Galway City Council has admitted that outdated pedestrian lights across the city can be controlled by the on-board computers of local taxis.
As revealed by the Galway Independent, taxi drivers can inadvertently change the signal at pedestrian junctions in some areas of the city by pressing a button on their on-board computer.
And this week, Director of Services Ciaran Hayes confirmed that the council was taking action on the issue.
“This is the case and it is something that we are working on at the moment. It only affects older pedestrian lights at certain junctions in the city and we have now got in touch with the supplier about the issue.
“They will be changing the magnetic field around the lights over the next few weeks and that will address the problem. It is a minor issue, it has no impact on the new lights or on the Urban Traffic Control Centre.”
According to Cllr Fahy, the issue affects the junctions at Dunnes Stores on the Headford Road, Woodquay, University Road, Galway Technical Institute, GMIT, Spanish Arch and the House Hotel.
The anomaly was brought to attention of Galway City Council recently by taxi driver Cllr Frank Fahy, who said that he discovered the quirk while waiting for a fare near a junction at GMIT.
“Every taxi that works for a company in the city has an on-board computer. When there is a transaction on the computer, like when you are checking your status to see if you are number one or two in the system, you have to press one or two buttons. So when you do, it shows up the information, but it also changes the traffic lights. It only happens at the pedestrian lights, thank God, or else the city would be in an awful heap!,” he said.

Seachmall

Well fuck me. I guess an apology is in order.

Won't be getting it from me, but someone should apologise.

28064212

dilallio wrote: »

Here's an update from today's Galway Indo.
Looks like councillor/taxi-driver Frank Fahy was correct in his allegations.

http://galwayindependent.com/stories/item/2051/2012-17/Council-to-tackle-rogue-junctions

So when he said "I noticed that when I used the GPS computer to check my position, the lights changed", he was actually talking bollocks?