Taxi computer system has pedestrians seeing the light

Galway City Council has begun an investigation into a local politician’s claim that taxi computer systems can affect lights at pedestrian crossings.

Fine Gael councillor and taxi driver Frank Fahy says he made the discovery when parked near a pedestrian crossing at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology during an overnight shift.

“I noticed that when I used the GPS computer to check my position the lights changed – and yet there was no one waiting to cross as it was in the early hours of the morning,” he told The Irish Times.

“I checked again, and found the lights changed again, and I tried it out at other pedestrian crossings in the city,”said Mr Fahy.

“Our system works on a radio frequency, and fortunately the lights always switch in the pedestrian’s favour or we could have had some bad accidents. However, it must be affecting traffic flow.

“As Galway is spending €6 million on removing roundabouts, and another €750,000 on a new traffic-control system, I felt the city council needed to know.”

Galway City Council director of services Ciaran Hayes confirmed that a report had been made, and an investigation was under way.