Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.
For many Las Vegas drivers, it would seem like a dream: cruising through the city's crowded streets, every red light magically turning green just before you reached the intersection.
Some emergency responders are concerned that a new product being marketed over the Internet might tempt drivers to piggyback onto Southern Nevada's traffic-control system in an effort to realize that dream.
Minnesota-based FAC of America Inc. is marketing a "traffic light control device" promising to turn "lights from red to green in 2 to 3 seconds." The device, according to the company, works by triggering the control system on the light, a control system that is designed to let emergency responders pass through intersections without waiting on a red light.
Company officials say they are only interested in selling the Mobile Infrared Transmitter to emergency personnel. The company's website offers direct sales over the Internet or sales to distributors, selling the devices for $299 each.
Online buyers have to check off a box saying they have read and agree to the terms of purchase, which means they are either an emergency worker themselves or a dealer to emergency workers.
Local officials are not convinced that the required check mark is enough to discourage unauthorized buyers. The result of putting the device in the hands of the public could be traffic chaos, warned a Regional Transportation Commission official.
"It would cause serious disruption and increase congestion and delay," RTC Planning Manager Charity Fechter said. The effect would not just be on the commuting public but also on emergency responders whom the system is designed to help.
"You're going to slow down traffic all around," she said. "It affects everybody."
Clark County traffic is controlled by a coordinated traffic control network that includes a recognition system at traffic lights. The recognition system, called Opticom, is manufactured by Minnesota's 3M company and is the worldwide market leader among cities looking for traffic system "pre-empts."
3M spokeswoman Donna Fleming said her company is aware of several rivals marketing systems that allegedly overcome the Opticom controls, but most do not seem to work.
"We have dealt with other companies that were basically offering things over the Internet that were basically fraudulent," Fleming said.
The latest of four generations of Opticom systems includes a code that restricts the light changes to vehicles authorized by the municipality that installed the system.
With the encryption, "you have to be an authorized user to activate the lights," Fleming said.
Las Vegas, however, does not now use the encrypted system. O.C. White, a Las Vegas traffic engineer, said officials are considering installing the encryption as the entire region upgrades to its Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation, or FAST, a new traffic-control system.
"We realize we have a lot of pre-emptions going on," White said. "We're just doing the monitoring now.
"When you encode it, it only allows those folks with the codes on their vehicle to use the system."
Encrypting the system regionally could be costly, although White could not say how long or how much it would take. He said traffic engineers are just beginning to consider the impact unauthorized use could have.
"You realize that's a potential, so that's just part of managing the whole system," White said.
Tim Gow, FAC of America president, said his company could build devices that overcome encryption, although the company's website for the product emphasizes that the devices do not now work in communities that have coded controlling devices.
Gow said his company is aggressively marketing the devices to make up for the market dominance enjoyed by 3M and Arizona-based Tomar Electronics, a company producing a similar product. Recent e-mails went out to law enforcement and emergency agencies -- and newspaper reporters -- advertising the FAC of America product.
The company has signed up 180 distributors for the product in the last four weeks, Gow said. Distributors pay $299 plus shipping for each device they order.
In contrast, the Opticom emitter, or control device, can cost $1,400 or more. Gow said his company is trying to put a lower-cost device into the hands of legitimate agencies.
Gow said the company is self-policing sales to make sure the product only ends up with authorized users.
"We have gone above and beyond what anyone else in this industry has done," he said. "We must self-police the distribution of this product to ensure that this item only is used or resold by authorized end users and dealers."
In contrast, other companies sell similar products over the Internet or through dealers without any restrictions, Gow charged.
Fleming said her company sells only to authorized government agencies and that the efficacy of some of the devices for sale on the Internet, including kits that the buyer would assemble, is doubtful.
Gow and FAC of America's Bruce Erichsen, head of the company's MIRT department, vowed that their product works.
"It trips them just fine," Erichsen said.
Gow said his company, which also sells paramilitary, hunting and law-enforcement equipment, instructs buyers to obey any applicable state and local laws governing the use of such devices. The site has a link to each state's transportation department web page, including the Nevada Department of Transportation.
"We want it used safely," Erichsen agreed. "We want it used by the professionals who need it to get to emergencies. We're not in favor of every Tom, Dick and Harry having one. That would be insane.
"All we're doing is trying to make it affordable for smaller police, fire and ambulances to afford the same preemption."
The company's website said "authorized users" would include police officers, firefighters including volunteers, private detectives, "investigators of all kinds," doctors, hospital personnel, community services personnel, and funeral home operators for processions.
Using such a device outside of an emergency situation would be a violation of state law. Nevada does not have a law specifically identifying who would be an authorized user of such a device, but it does have a state law making it a misdemeanor to use one casually.
Brian Hutchins, Nevada chief deputy attorney general with responsibilities for transportation, said that the statute, NRS 484.289, makes it a crime to interfere with any "official device for control of traffic."
"It's pretty encompassing," he said.
Local officials said it might be hard to successfully identify an inappropriate user. The device sits on a dashboard and is about the size and shape of a radar detector.
Bob Leinbach, a spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department, said that buyers should still beware purchasing, or trying to purchase, the device or similar devices.
"Generally if something's not legal, it's probably a bad idea," he said. "We're talking about life and safety."
But he admitted that it is "kind of hard to stop sales over the Internet."
One local official said that if unauthorized users get their thumbs on the controls of such devices, the impact would be limited.
"I don't think it's going to be a major impact," said Capt. Rick Bilyeu, commander of Metro's transportation safety bureau. "If this gets to be a problem, and this is speculation on my part, we would probably turn off the (preempt) signals."
Police officers already can travel through red-light intersections with caution when they have their flashers or sirens on, he said.
"Police officers are still required to slow down and ensure that it's safe to travel through that intersection," he said.
Bilyeu said emergency responders also are looking at the encoding system that would make any purchase right now useless in the future.
"I would strongly recommend people not to invest money in this endeavor," he said. "It would probably be rendered ineffective anyway."
archive
