Gadget atop traffic light triggers a green light.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Gadget atop traffic light triggers a green light.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Bob Henninger and Jon Hirashima, both of Honolulu, are puzzled by an apparatus appearing atop traffic lights, black objects about the size of a beer can with a tiny periscope attached - not that your WatDat Investigation Squad has any clear idea how big a beer can is. Some emergency cars
have got the signalOK kids, let's go back to 1940, those dark, desperate days of the Battle of Britain, during which Herr Schickelgruber's Luftwaffe tried to bomb England into submission. Those gallant lads of the outnumbered Royal Air Force tried to stop the waves of bombers, and were guided to their aerial duels by ladies on the ground who interpreted those new-fangled radar transmissions.
You could tell something was out there with radar, like shining a flashlight in a dark gym and catching bugs in the beam. But you can't tell if they're moths or bumblebees. So the British came up with a gizmo called Identification Friend or Foe, or IFF, a radio signal the British pilots could flip on and off when signaled to do so from ground-control. You didn't want to leave it on, because the Nazis could track it too - the moth's-eye view of the flashlight in the gym - but IFF allowed ground control to see who was who, and react accordingly.
Which brings us to the traffic-light gizmos. They are Emergency Vehicle Preemptors, and they're on the lookout for infra-red signals broadcast by fire trucks and ambulances that have infrared transmitters. The units are sold to private ambulances and provided to City vehicles. If the vehicle transmitter is turned on, it broadcasts ahead several blocks, triggering the Preemptors into a green light.
According to Ty Fukumitsu, city traffic signal engineer, eventually these Preemptors will be installed over the entire island, but in the meantime, they're installed in high-traffic areas like downtown and Kalanianaole Highway.
No, they're not available to the general public so you can get to work on time.
By Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin