With more and more drivers taking to the roadways each year, commutes are busier than ever. Those drivers may not be as dedicated to obeying the laws of the road, either, making those trips a little more dangerous to boot. That latter fact has led some law enforcement agencies to take a few interesting measures, including using unmanned speed jeeps, to hold offenders accountable.
While traffic cameras may appear effective, opinions remain divided over the legal and ethical use of them. In fact, some drivers have gotten downright paranoid about the use of traffic cameras in areas where they are legally permissible. So much so that many are quick to raise the alarm when they spot new additions mounted on or near intersections, particularly if they’re located in the specific vicinity of a traffic light. This has happened in Missouri and New Jersey towns in recent years due to the presence of white squares hanging near traffic lights. Some even fear they might be equipped with radar guns or cameras to collect personal information against their wishes.
It would seem those fears are not entirely warranted, with local officials for each municipality confirming that the square or wavy white boxes are not designed to track or enforce traffic violations. Instead, those boxes are meant to help with traffic flow and potentially make the intersections they’re installed at a little safer. They are, of course, also collecting information, just not what you might think.
Here’s how those little white boxes work
We’ll address that last nugget first, lest you begin to fear Big Brother is tracking your every move with those white boxes. That does not appear to be the case, with Springfield, Missouri, Traffic Engineer Tom Dancey claiming the boxes are not there to collect data on specific vehicles that pass underneath them in an intersection. Instead, he told KY3, the data being collected is purely for tracking, “traffic or traffic counts,” with the information being used to help alleviate gridlock by altering traffic signals in affected areas.
For what it’s worth, a representative from New Jersey DOT seemingly backed that concept up a decade ago, telling NJ.com that the boxes “communicate via radio waves about traffic volumes and other parameters at their respective locations.” With the acquired information, traffic signals can, theoretically, be lengthened or shortened at peak traffic times to aid in the flow of traffic, providing a similar function as some of those black boxes you might also have seen at intersections.
As it happens, there are actually two different types of white boxes at some intersections, with some designed merely to function like old induction sensors, which were typically buried inside of roadways as a means to alert traffic signals that a vehicle was either approaching, or waiting unnecessarily at a red light. The new sensors can pick a car up about 500 feet away, and potentially hold the light a few seconds longer to allow the vehicle to more safely pass through the intersection. Some can even help clear intersections for oncoming emergency vehicles.
