Traffic Light Spoofer for Cyclists

I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.


Bret Cahill

On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:00:44 -0800 (PST), Bret Cahill
wrote:

I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.


Bret Cahill


Do you mean that your bike is ignored by magnetic-loop sensors?

I'd think that a reasonable bit of electronics and a ferrite-core loop
antenna could detect the big loop frequency and generate some signal
that would simulate a car. It would take a little research, but the
numbers don't look unreasonable to me; the loops are just metal
detectors, looking for a fairly small inductance change.

John

On Jan 19, 9:00*pm, Bret Cahill wrote:
I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

But might be unnecessary if you have some cooperation from the local
DoT. I've found that just laying the bike down a little over the
sensor area of the road gets almost all the lights to trigger in our
area (northern Cal.) and the traffic authorities are pretty good about
coming out and adjusting the few that don't. This assumes you have
aluminum rims to trigger the induction loop detectors.

On 2009-01-20, Peter Rathmann wrote:
On Jan 19, 9:00Â*pm, Bret Cahill wrote:
I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

But might be unnecessary if you have some cooperation from the local
DoT. I've found that just laying the bike down a little over the
sensor area of the road gets almost all the lights to trigger in our
area (northern Cal.) and the traffic authorities are pretty good about
coming out and adjusting the few that don't. This assumes you have
aluminum rims to trigger the induction loop detectors.

I have found that just putting the front wheel on the cut line
where the sensor loop is installed is enough.

unfortunately motor cycles have thicker tyres smaller wheels and are
harder lie down and pick up.

OTOH Bret says 9v (not 6V or 12V) so chances are he's using leg-power
and not a motor.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!


See
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/remote-controls-traffic-lights.

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

See also http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/08/68507.
--
mac the naïf

On 2009-01-20, Jasen Betts wrote:
On 2009-01-20, Peter Rathmann wrote:
On Jan 19, 9:00Â*pm, Bret Cahill wrote:
I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

But might be unnecessary if you have some cooperation from the local
DoT. I've found that just laying the bike down a little over the
sensor area of the road gets almost all the lights to trigger in our
area (northern Cal.) and the traffic authorities are pretty good about
coming out and adjusting the few that don't. This assumes you have
aluminum rims to trigger the induction loop detectors.

I have found that just putting the front wheel on the cut line
where the sensor loop is installed is enough.

unfortunately motor cycles have thicker tyres smaller wheels and are
harder lie down and pick up.

OTOH Bret says 9v (not 6V or 12V) so chances are he's using leg-power
and not a motor.

OTOH I could har simply tead the subject line!
"cyclists" generallt excludes motorcyclists.
D'oh.

On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:00:44 -0800, Bret Cahill wrote:

I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

I once saw a web page, which I can't find now, where the cyclist tipped
the bike, to make the frame more nearly parallel to the loop, to improve
the inductive coupling.

A google search just now turned up mostly neodymium magnets.

If you're talking about that strobe that emergency vehicles use, be sure
you don't get caught.

Have Fun!
Rich

"Rich Grise" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:00:44 -0800, Bret Cahill wrote:

I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

I once saw a web page, which I can't find now, where the cyclist tipped
the bike, to make the frame more nearly parallel to the loop, to improve
the inductive coupling.

A google search just now turned up mostly neodymium magnets.

If you're talking about that strobe that emergency vehicles use, be sure
you don't get caught.

I have always wondered why they did not design the strobe so that it turned
lights red in all directions. Then all traffic would stop, except for the
emergency vehicle, and the worst that an illegal strobe could do would be
to disrupt traffic and annoy people.

Paul

On Jan 20, 3:58*pm, "Paul E. Schoen" wrote:
"Rich Grise" wrote in message

news


On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:00:44 -0800, Bret Cahill wrote:

I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

I once saw a web page, which I can't find now, where the cyclist tipped
the bike, to make the frame more nearly parallel to the loop, to improve
the inductive coupling.

A google search just now turned up mostly neodymium magnets.

If you're talking about that strobe that emergency vehicles use, be sure
you don't get caught.

I have always wondered why they did not design the strobe so that it turned
lights red in all directions. Then all traffic would stop, except for the
emergency vehicle, and the worst that an illegal strobe could do would be
to disrupt traffic and annoy people.

No, the worst situation under that system is that the legal strobe on
the emergency vehicle fails to trigger the signal. Then the emergency
vehicle goes barreling through the red and right into the cross
traffic that still has a green. Better to have things so that even if
parts fail they tend to do so in ways that are still fairly safe.

"Peter Rathmann" wrote in message
...
On Jan 20, 3:58 pm, "Paul E. Schoen" wrote:
"Rich Grise" wrote in message

news


On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:00:44 -0800, Bret Cahill wrote:

I pull up in the left hand turn lane and the traffic light doesn't
respond.

If only I had a 9 volt battery powered spoofer that would trick the
intersection into changing the light!

This might require some cooperation with the Dept. of Transportation.

I once saw a web page, which I can't find now, where the cyclist tipped
the bike, to make the frame more nearly parallel to the loop, to
improve
the inductive coupling.

A google search just now turned up mostly neodymium magnets.

If you're talking about that strobe that emergency vehicles use, be
sure
you don't get caught.

I have always wondered why they did not design the strobe so that it
turned
lights red in all directions. Then all traffic would stop, except for the
emergency vehicle, and the worst that an illegal strobe could do would be
to disrupt traffic and annoy people.

No, the worst situation under that system is that the legal strobe on
the emergency vehicle fails to trigger the signal. Then the emergency
vehicle goes barreling through the red and right into the cross
traffic that still has a green. Better to have things so that even if
parts fail they tend to do so in ways that are still fairly safe.

Most traffic lights are set to fail-safe as flashing red, which at least
requires all vehicles to stop before proceeding. Emergency vehicles should
never just barrel through an intersection with the assumption that the
lights are properly set, and it should be easy enough to verify that the
lights in the cross direction are indeed also red. One fail-safe indicator
would be to make the lights flash when the emergency condition is set.
Otherwise there could be indicators on the sides of traffic lights to
indicate their color.

Paul