Lawmakers in Minnesota failed to approve legislation that would have outlawed the use of a device that can change some traffic signals from red to green.

The proposal remained in the Senate Finance Committee when legislators adjourned May 16, effectively killing the bill for the year. It previously passed the House.

A traffic-light changer is designed to allow police, fire and other emergency officials to clear intersections before they approach. But some drivers have managed to purchase them on the Internet for as low as $100, according to published reports.

People can even buy kits and build the signal changer themselves.

HF1683, sponsored by Rep. Steve Strachan, R-Farmington, was designed to deter anyone other than public safety and transit agencies from using so-called mobile infrared transmitters, or MIRTs.

The traffic-device provision was added to a larger Senate transportation bill but it too failed to gain passage before lawmakers adjourned.

The devices, which sit on a vehicle’s dash, are not regulated by current federal standards because they rely on a beam of light instead of a radio wave to trigger the light-changing mechanisms that have been attached to some intersections.

A recent U.S. Department of Transportation survey showed the devices are in use at 26,500 intersections in 78 cities across the country.