This is my badly written, barely researched, knee-jerk opinion about a boring and well-documented subject, UK implemented traffic management technology. It's deliberately boring because I'm not sure yet how widely known it should be. Feel free to hide it, correct it, or just mock me for being so dull I find it interesting or so uninformed that it is news to me. There are obvious contradictory class, libertarian and environmental issues involved.

I'd posted a comment earlier
[  http://www0.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434236.html?c=on#c228164 ]
about a device using strobe technology to ruin flash photographs and a different device to hide your face in photos using Infrared LEDs. That got me thinking about 'Infra Red Strobes', so I googled that and stumbled upon a cheap US design for a Traffic Light remote control.
[  http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/176/44 ]
An even simpler method using a shop-bought Universal Remote is here:
[  http://www.metacafe.com/watch/496319/change_traffic_lights_with_a_universal_remote ]

That got me wondering if the same thing would work with UK traffic lights, so I did some blue-sky research, basically searching online techie and government sites, with the added thrill of some real-life ambulance-chases. My initial opinion is that the local traffic lights with IR sensors are being switched by approaching ambulances, presumably by IR strobes in the ambulance as the non-IR traffic lights (the ones without the sensor on top) didn't seem to show the same effect. I'm interested enough to do more first-hand research but the various old articles I've come across are worth linking to and commenting on. Most of the older (1970) systems work on devices buried under the road but that doesn't mean they are lacking in functionality.


 http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop06006/index.htm

Traffic Control Systems Handbook: Chapter 6. Detectors
Table 6-1. Strengths and Weaknesses of Commercially Available Sensor Technologies
Inductive Loop, Magnetometer, Magnetic, Microwave Radar, Active Infrared, Passive Infrared, Ultrasonic, Acoustic, Video Image Processor

My comment: These systems can recognise tags (transponder signals similar to aircraft but some products can also recognise types of vehicle - including passenger numbers - for the peizo-electric loops (the obvious trenches in the motorways) by axle weight and vehicle length. That is an older tech but more widely implemented and has improved features.

 http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/buses/bpf/busprioritythewayahead12/busprioritythewayaheadhtmlve1073?page=8#a1041

My comment: Although this UK government article is focussed on buses, it is about the best overview of what has been implented in the UK.

 http://www.idris-technology.com/technical-sheets/automatic-vehicle-identification--tag-reader-correlation/
 http://peek-traffic.co.uk/products/

My comment: Although the US has implented this years ahead of the UK, many of the companies are UK based.

 http://www.cashloopholes.co.uk/free-driving-transport-loopholes-secrets/165-how-to-change-traffic-lights-to-green.html

My comment: In the US the IR frequency is 10Hz for low priority (buses), 14Hz for high priority (emergency services), almost certainly the same here. The universal code for a Universal Remote in the US is 911, that is trial and error or further investigation here - I will start that trial with 999 as the first code for obvious reasons.



My tuppence worth :

Traffic lights are one of the arteries of a city. It takes at least four activists to block a road, whereas four activists with a suitable hacking devices could block up an entire city. Most of these systems can be blocked, spoofed or abused and it is more likely to be cunts like rich, nasty Jeremy Clarkson who will do this before us. It certainly is the establishment elite who is paying for this to be implemented.

The infrastructure to make every road a toll-road has already been implemented or is being implemented in the UK, using established US technology alebit with English companies complicit. That implies every vehicle will soon be charged and tracked, traceable and taxable over every road as is the case in the UK. Traffic Master is simply an aspect of this, Automatic Number Plate Recognition is just a subset of this field.