How Can I Make A Traffic Light Turn Green?

If you've ever been stuck at a red light on a country road, you know it can be annoying. No other cars for miles, but you can't shake the feeling that if you run the light, one will appear out of nowhere and slam into you. Today we have some tips that might just make that light turn a little faster or, at the very least, kill some time while you're waiting for the light to change.

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[FatherDraven]

"Just run the light" - Hank Green, 2016

[lilwayne]

"The green wave" lmao I be getting that red wave every time

[ASilentS]

You missed the obvious solution: decrease its wavelength.

[admiralpercy]

That "camera" you circled is actually a strobe sensor for emergency vehicles. I used to install traffic lights, and every single one used the metal detector under the road to detect waiting cars. In New Hampshire, I never worked on an intersection that ran ONLY on a timer.
For the induction loops, on a bike, you can usually see the cuts in the pavement where the wire is; position yourself over one of the lines that runs parallel to the flow of traffic, either in the center, or on either the right or left edge.

[JoseRuiz-kddd]

Or just be a cop. Flash the lights and sirens and flip everyone off as you cross the red light.

[iWearLacoste]

I can tell you how to make the lights turn green. Buy some fast food with the intent to eat it during red lights. All of the sudden you will start getting all green lights or extremely short red lights. Never fails. Traffic lights are sadistic and only want to make you wait for a long time if you're not doing anything. But the minute you actually start making use of red lights, they will start turning green. >:(

[Ngamotu]

I always assumed the grooves in the road were the outlines of pressure pads. Guess I was wrong.

[jamesb]

0:49 That's not a camera, that's a sensor for the emergency vehicle preemption system. It uses serialized infrared pulses emitted from emergency vehicles.

[Ender]

FYI, that camera you circled at 0:49 is actually a emergency vehicle detector, it picks up a special strobe light on ambulances and fire trucks to turn the light. The normal traffic cameras are a bit bigger than that.

[skevoid]

How to turn a stuck red light green: Get out of your car, go up and knock on the window of the person in front of you and tell them to pull up to the goddamn line instead of sitting a whole car length back!

I've found that with motorcycles I have more luck getting lights to change if I'm sitting over the edge of loop instead of in the middle of the lane.

[fakjbf]

I was once stuck behind two other cars waiting to turn left at a light. The light went through 4 cycles and we never got a green arrow, and all the oncoming traffic meant there was no room to get through a normal green light. Finally someone got out and told the car in front to move into the intersection and get through when the light first turns red, that way we can at least get one person through per cycle. As soon as they inched forwards to get ready the green arrow came had kept us waiting for more than ten minutes because they hadn't gone far enough forwards to trip the sensor.

[aceldamia]

There is actually another method that works, and it has a 100% success rate.

When you stop at a signal, just start staring at the light. If you stare hard enough, you will get it to finally turn green. This method takes patience, but it works every time.

[retaeiyu]

One major flipping donwside to the "green wave" the red wave. Hitting every single red sucks so bad.

[kckcollin]

When i ride a bike and I'm stuck at a light, i like to keep it legal by carrying a 500 pound steel plate JUST to make sure i activate the sensors! :)

[DavidWangazsr]

Go at 1/6 c and that red light will become green!

[carthius]

OMFG!! It drives me crazy when people dont pull up all the way to the red light b/c of this!!!

[jaysun]

did hank just advocate for breaking the law?

[AlabasterJazz]

"Just run the light" ~Hank Green 2016

[Mslimbertimber]

last resort: just take a right, flip a quick U-turn and turn right again

[dennisteutsch]

The "camera" that was circled in red was actually a 3M opticom receiver. It uses light pulses from a strobe emitter on emergency vehicles to give them green light clearance on their direction of travel. After the vehicle passes, the signal returns to normal operation.