Subject: [NEXTEL-1] In-car device lets drivers change stoplights; officials fear gridlock, seek to block signal

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 22:46:29 -0500

Gadget may wreak traffic havoc
In-car device lets drivers change stoplights; officials fear gridlock, seek to
block signal

By Jodi Upton / The Detroit News
October 26, 2003

Tired of sitting at endless red lights? Frustrated by lights that turn from
green to red too quickly, trapping you in traffic?

Now anyone can breeze through congested intersections just like the police,
thanks to a $300 dashboard device that changes traffic lights from red to
green, making nasty commutes a thing of the past and leaving other drivers
open-mouthed at your ability to manipulate traffic.

But what if everyone had one?

That's the fear of traffic control officials, who believe chaos would take
over the roads. That's also the potential facing communities from Troy to
Washington Township as Internet-marketed knockoffs of the device -- 
originally intended only for police and fire vehicles -- have become
available to the public.

The knockoffs have traffic engineers investigating whether lockout measures
will work against the copycats and whether hundreds of thousands of dollars
in traffic technology investments will become obsolete.

Police are worried about the possibility of intersection chaos if people
duel over control for lights. But even more fundamentally, the dashboard
device may be impossible to detect even from a police car right next to it,
and it may be perfectly legal anyway.

"The potential for chaos is enormous," Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel
said.

The traffic light changer, called the MIRT for mobile infrared transmitter,
emits a beam with a 1,500-foot range to a receiver installed at the
intersection, which changes the light immediately, allowing an intersection
to clear before a fire or rescue truck approaches.

"That's unreal. I want one," Hackel said while watching a test device change
the lights at the touch of a button.

The devices are normally installed on the fire truck and respond
automatically. The MIRT requires the press of a button and plugs into the
cigarette lighter.

Unlike other devices, like radar jammers and certain laser detectors that
emit radio signals, the MIRT and other signal changers emit an infrared
beam, so it doesn't run afoul of the Federal Communications Commission, said
Chelsea Fallon, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Because no laws apply to the MIRT in Michigan and elsewhere, new ones may
have to be written. "I guess I have something to talk to the (state)
legislators about," Hackel said.

Copycats sold online

While government officials search legal texts for possible legal
infractions, dealers are lining up to sell MIRTs.

Scott Pregler of Shelby Township was one of the first, adding it to his
other business of after-market aerodynamic car body parts "like that stuff
in 'The Fast and the Furious,' you know?" he said, referring to a movie in
which a gang of drivers in super-fast cars repeatedly outwit the police.

Pregler said he hasn't even tried the device yet, and plans to focus on
selling it to small police and fire agencies that can't afford the more
expensive version of the technology, marketed by 3M, which bigger cities and
counties buy.

"We'll probably try to avoid (selling to the public) if it may cause
problems in the future," said Pregler, whose company is named Vision
Aerodynamics.

The 3M knockoffs, like the MIRT, are available on the Internet, but they
work only at intersections that have receivers. There are about 85 such
intersections in Troy, along Big Beaver and Rochester Road and other main
corridors. Farmington and Novi also have invested in the receivers, which
can run $15,000 to $20,000 per intersection, including wiring and
installation.

But the real vulnerability may lie in whether the receivers can lock out
devices like the MIRT and read only the signal from specific fire trucks.
Many receivers already purchased by Troy, for example, can't be locked out
and can't be upgraded, said Frank Carrier, the primary 3M dealer in
southeast Michigan.

Troy traffic engineer John Abraham said newer receivers are programmable,
making it unclear how vulnerable the city is to MIRTs.

"We had a scare a few years ago when we realized there was a potential for
the technology to get out, so we upgraded," Abraham said.

In Macomb, Washington Township along Old Van Dyke has been a test site. But
the county has only six intersections with receivers, and the technology was
able to lock out the MIRT on Friday.

"But if something comes up that gets around the lock, I'll take them all
out. It would be chaos," said Dan McInerney, traffic operations engineer at
the Road Commission of Macomb County.

For now, Macomb allows only fire trucks to have the device, fearing that if
police and paramedics also have it, it would cause havoc at larger emergency
scenes.

Wayne County has none of the intersection systems, mostly because of a fear
that if there was an accident because of the light change, the county would
be held legally responsible, spokeswoman Vanessa Denha said. But there are
some similar devices on traffic lights outside some firehouses to help
trucks get out.

Because Michigan's communities have not invested in the traffic technology
as heavily as some states, problems with copycat devices like the MIRT are
just beginning to appear.

Competition, critics grow

Tim Gow, who markets the device through his company, FAC, which also sells
high-end weapons and accessories to police, said he's not using the Internet
to appeal to the public, but only to level the playing field in a
David-versus-Goliath market.

"We will need an army of distributors to go up against 3M," Gow said. He
said he is aiming to sell to small police, fire and emergency agencies who
can't afford the 3M systems but can afford his $499 device, which is higher
than his direct-to-the-dealer price.

He says he has rejected some dealers -- including a pizza delivery guy who
wanted to use the device. He asks dealers to promise not to sell directly to
the public and to use their device for demonstrations only.

Gow knows he may not hear about infractions. But if he does, he says he will
revoke a dealership.

"I have a highly unique product here, and I'm going beyond what I have to do
to sell a legal product," Gow said. "The BATF (federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms) and the FBI, these are organizations I answer to every
day. We have no issues with these governing bodies."

But if communities start locking out the MIRT, Gow may not be able to
compete at all.

Frank Carrier, the 3M dealer, says that's only fair. If Gow wants to
compete, he should create his own system, including a receiver that can be
locked as well, Carrier said. Providing only a transmitter as his business
is parasitic, he said.

However long the MIRT survives, it's only one of a number of devices that
frustrated and lead-footed drivers have snatched up over the years with an
aim of having an advantage over the police. The difference is, few of them
actually work.

"People are gullible, and they have discretionary income," said P. David
Fisher, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Michigan State
University. He said the issue of a national campaign to expose the
businesses that sell radar jammers and laser detectors that, by definition,
if they are effective are illegal, has been discussed at public safety
conventions.

"It's a very interesting ethical dilemma. Here are all these gullible
people. Why should we protect them? On the other hand, they are causing a
number of crashes."

You can reach Jodi Upton at (313) 222-2310 or [email-masked].

http://www.detnews.com/2003/commuting/0310/26/a01-307303.htm

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