# Hacking traffic lights

- Author: Joichi Ito
- Date: 2002-12-29T14:28:03Z


I love that the "tone" of phrack articles is the same as Cook's Illustrated articles. ;-)phrackA more environmentally friendly way of traveling by car. As some of you might recall in almost all the hacking movies, books, TV shows, etc. there has been a case of someone fiddling with traffic lights. Well we all just giggled at the unrealistic aspect of it and didn't think twice. Well in my quest for a more appealing planet for our children I felt compelled to think of a way in order to reduce the amount of pollution emitted by vehicles of today.

Standing at a intersection, nobody else around, you're still stuck behind the red light, and this invisible barrier of governmental guilt has enough power to let you wait there and pollute the air more and more, just for a measly green light. Wouldn't it be leet having a laptop in the car where you could just select the intersection off a list, change the timing or current stream running, and ride off with fewer time wasted and fewer pollutants exhausted and a clear conscience.

Now, enough crap about the reasons, now for the technical shit.

Today's traffic controlling system is a well oiled redundant network that utilizes the same protocols that we are all aware of. Yes it is hackable and it is like in the movies. :) here we go!





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#### Categories

Computer and Network Risks