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A local TV station here in Houston did a report on these devices as Houston has the sensors on most every stop light in town.
The broadcaster went with the fire chief in the fire chief's car through a couple of intersections with his *authorized* strobe box, which turned his lights green quickly.
This was just to insure the signal switching was working.
Then the broadcaster took the *unauthorized, illegal-to-use unit* he bought off the internet and put it on the dash and the fire chief turned off his own unit off.
They both worked identically.
The reporter asked the fire chief and an HPD officer if they were legal to use and safe and this is what these city officials told him:
1) Their use is illegal in Houston (and probably most everywhere else) and if a peace officer of any branch discovers you are using one you'll be arrested for interfering with traffic flow, blocking an intersection, etc. Suspicion of the use of this device warrants a search and seizure.
2) Private use of these units can cause accidents. The emergency vehicle's lights and siren are not present, and the signal lights are changing in what appears to be erradic fashion.
I think I'll sit patiently at the stop lights, wait for it to turn green, count to five so the most eager driver can get into the intersection first, and then take off. I always let others enter the intersection first because they're always the ones being Tboned by the idiot running a red light just a second after it's changed from yellow.
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