Speed traps?

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

My friend said that she was driving on Broadway last night and saw a bunch of blue lights on video cameras pointed at intersections.  Are these speed traps or cameras snapping pictures of people who run red lights?

Comments

[rax.livejournal.com]

I know that's the case some places (not Somerville, but Beacon St. in Brookline comes to mind), but in a couple of places I really thought it was cameras. I might be crazy though. :)

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I thought there were such things as emergency vehicle lights - I've seen all the traffic lights go red and those little lights start flashing, shortly followed by a flashing-lights vehicle zooming through. I could be wrong as well, though.

[ron_newman]

I've seen that at the firehouse in Teele Square, but thought that was done by someone pushing a button inside the fire station.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

This was a normal two-street intersection in Waltham with no fire-station nearby, rather than the blinky-yellow lights you see in front of almost every fire-station. I think it was a traffic signal preemption (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_signal_preemption) device (scroll down a bit and you'll see the thing that sits on the traffic light).

[ron_newman]

They should put those on MBTA buses.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Didja notice this link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_priority) at the bottom of that page? Sadly I don't think it would fly around here - we just have to rely on their Boston driving skills. . .

[ron_newman]

It would be worth experimenting with, maybe in Union Square? Wonder if the city would be willing to try it there.

[alphacygni]

Silver Line Washington Street has some traffic signal integration. That's it so far. The jurisdictional issues are difficult.

[roosto.livejournal.com]

I've read articles in the Globe about how the MBTA would like to put some signal priority system in for the Green Line. The city keeps refusing to do it. Has anything about this come up in the Green Line extension meetings? The trolleys that do not have their own right of way tracks ie everything except the D-Line could sorely use this.

[dcltdw]

Not sure if we're thinking of the same thing, but some streetlights have small cameras that detect emergency vehicles. My understanding is that the vehicles have a particular device that gives off a particular strobe pattern in the non-visible spectrum, which the camera detects, and says "aha!" and changes lights accordingly.

Part of my vague understanding is that in some cities, busses are similarly equipped.

Back to EMS, I remember one story about how crews would have to use an A/B box, because the strobe patterns were set differently in adjacent towns.

Anyways, more anecdotes that are probably irrelevant... :)

[nalz.livejournal.com]

I think that both things exist. Most streets definitely use magnetic loops. I've only seem the light cameras for emergency vehicles, though. The camera detects the strobe like you said, although I've never heard of buses using them.

This page actually does a good job of showing what the little cameras look like: http://www.milton.ca/fire/fireoperations/signalchange.htm

As an aside to that - There was a guy a while back in Colorado (I think) that had one and used it when he was commuting because he was always running late. It took the city a while to find him but they eventually did because it happened at the same intersections every day around the same time.

Ah, found the article: http://www.news4jax.com/automotive/8768516/detail.html

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

There are cameras that detect non-emergency vehicles to make traffic lights change, but I've never seen one on a public road in the eastern U.S.

[mollyrazor.livejournal.com]

Come to Maine and you will see some. We have them at several intersections in Portland.

(I know that's what they are, because when they were installed at the most ridiculous intersection in town people freaked out all OMG THEY'RE SPYING ON US and the city was all, um, no, we are trying to make traffic flow better.)