Opticom

[Thunderin' Thunderbolt]

Either.

Sometimes they use this type of light:


This type of light is usually a steady blue. But sometimes they use this light:


This type of light is a strobe blue. It is more common and is seen better, therefore is the best option. So my guess is that since it flashes, it is the strobe.


*EDIT: I also just learned from the 3M website that these are also used for transit busses. Has anyone known of this, seen it happen, or know if it is selling well?

[KnightFox]

I was asking siren_face2000 what kind of light they were using in his area. I am fully aware of what lights they do use. I have been pretty much around Maryland and have seen setups that you wouldn't believe.

[Thunderin' Thunderbolt]

Oh, oops

What kind of setups are you talking about? Pix? And as I said, I also just learned from the 3M website that these are also used for transit busses. Has anyone known of this, seen it happen, or know if it is selling well?

[Chad]

Lawton, Oklahoma (my city) as well as Duncan, Oklahoma (Podunksville, USA) both use these system. In Lawton, the Opticom units are installed only on the city's three main roads (Lee Bvld., Cache Road, and Quannah Parker Trailway), and in Duncan, only on the city's main road: State Highway 81.

[KnightFox]

Oh, oops

What kind of setups are you talking about? Pix?

I got no pics, but I've seen regular blue lights, strobe blue lights and flashing industrial blue lights (the ones you see at industries that have those metal rock guards around them.) I've also seen spotlights (from 1 to 2 of them on a single unit).

I've also seen these assemblies hanging from the lines on intersections that have the lights hanging from a steel wire.

[loudmouth]

our town has thouse but also this other kinda(expermental) thats a cammra and notices a the traffic levels on the roads and adjusts the light timeing or how long a light is red or green or if arrow lights need to be used this system gets rid of thouse metal strips put into the road. also this system also noties if a emergency vehicle is comeing buy the strobe on the truck or car or ambulance.

[Thunderin' Thunderbolt]

That's definitely experimental. I have never heard of these before.

My opinion is that it is a very stupid idea. I feel that the metal strips are much better and more effective, and along with Opticom and red light cameras you have an extremely effective system.

The metal strips do EXACTLY the same thing as the cameras do, except the Opticom system is needed for the emergency vehicle thing.

The metal strips are so that you don't have to wait through a timed red light while, in the other direction, the light is green but nobody is going through it for 3 minutes. I don't think the need for arrow light management will be popular, because it is just a waste of time because why would you want to turn off an arrow light in the first place? Beats me.

[loudmouth]

well in my town we have a hill with 3 diffrent sets(in a row) of lights and befor wene we had the metal strips there was allways a wait (long) the mayor got stuck once and got soo fed up he asked for the hole area to be riped up and figure out a better way, these camras work much better since they can figure out how many cars are waiting (dont aske me how i didnt make the system) but it dose cut down at wait time and thouse metal strips cause the road to be weakend and are usaly bumpy during frost heaves and pot holes in the spring. ill see if i can get some pictures of the units.

[Chad]

I wonder if Opticom has any plans to look into RFID technology to replace their optical system. For those of you that don't know, RFID is a standard that involves tiny microchips emitting and reading radio frequencies. I could see some real potential in using RFID technology to replace thier optical systems, one of the pros being that it would be harder to illegally pre-empt a light to change colors.

[Thunderin' Thunderbolt]

Very true, but then you would have to figure out a way to find out which way the vehicle is going. And that is nearly impossible with RFID unless you have some sort of electronic compass set up.

Most likely the cameras are a mix of heat sensing and regular or IR, and it electronically "counts" the heat sources (cars) and checks for lights by regular OR checks for an IR signal.