Stoplights with vehicle sensors

[trista]

Drive me nuts. Do you just run 'em? My dh strongly disapproves that I run red lights. When I first started riding my regular routes that I use all the time now, I'd sit at those stupid lights and wait and wait, getting attacked by gnats or some random gang of insects.

My rides went much quicker once I decided to run the light after I made sure it was clear.

[BikeHN]

They just passed a law where I live, that after coming to a complete stop and of course taking caution, you may cross.

[ny biker]

I generally wait. A car comes along soon enough. The ones I encounter most often are at intersections where it would be dangerous to run the light (high traffic speeds/poor sightlines).

[azfiddle]

Tucson has a few that are designed to be triggered by cyclists! Wish there were more though.

[Veronica]

Depends... usually a car comes along. If one doesn't I'll hit the walk button as most of my intersections are too busy to cross without the light. The walk usually triggers the green for me also.

Veronica

[nscrbug]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I will run a light if I have waited through a cycle and it has not changed. I usually ride at 6am on the weekends...not enough traffic out at that time to trigger some lights...and I'm not gonna sit around and wait 5 minutes for someone to come along. If it's clear, I go.

[carinapir]

I've been told that if the sensors are those ones where you can see the black edges of the circle, you should put your wheel right on the edge and kind of press and it should feel you. I've seen this work at intersections that I had to wait for a car for in the past. I'm in So. Cal. so I don't know if the senors would be the same where you are.

[trista]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I will run a light if I have waited through a cycle and it has not changed. I usually ride at 6am on the weekends...not enough traffic out at that time to trigger some lights...and I'm not gonna sit around and wait 5 minutes for someone to come along. If it's clear, I go.

Same here. I go out at 6 am, or even earlier. It's still dark - another reason I don't like waiting. I don't want to give the boogieman a chance to catch up with me.

[Thorn]

I count to 45 and legally go through the light -- Wisconsin state law says bikes (motorized and pedalled) need to wait 45 seconds. If no car is present during that time to trigger the light, we may proceed through the light.

That said, DH and I both have steel frames. If we know where the sensor is we put one bike on each vertical border of the box and tip the bikes toward the middle. Sometimes that will trigger the light.

[Becky]

There are only a few lights around here that I don't trigger on my bike. I guess DelDOT has done a good job of adjusting the sensors. I will stop and wait at a light. If I don't trip it after one cycle, then I'll cautiously run it.

AFAIK, there are no "45 second" or "Idaho stop" laws here in Delaware.

[OakLeaf]

When I rode a steel frame, I was always able to trigger lights.

It makes it a little harder if the road's been re-paved so the sensor cuts aren't visible, but I usually found a hand's breadth to the right of the oil slick would do it. ;)

On a carbon frame, there are many lights in my area where I could be waiting for a good long time (5 minutes or longer) for a car to come by that isn't turning right. Legal or not, if there's that little traffic, it's (a) safe and (b) unlikely to have a cop within sight.

Modern sensors are optical. I'm LOVING the newer ones that have been installed in my area.

[yellowrose93]

DH and I had this issue on Sunday. Came to a light and waited for awhile. It's an intersection that is busy in one direction, but not the direction we were going. There is no button to push, so we waited until it was clear and hauled a$$ across. Not the ideal situation, but neither is sitting for 30 minutes hoping a car comes to trigger the light. :rolleyes:

[loopybunny]

I have that issue too!

If it's a busy intersection I scoot over to hit the crosswalk button if I'm going straight. If I'm making a left turn I can't get to the button and back to the correct lane in time. If it's safe, I just go through the red light, treating it like a stop sign.

[Eden]

Check with your local DOT - here in Seattle you can report a light that won't change for a bicycle and they will fix it. They actually tune the sensors with a bicycle wheel.... Any bike with any metal at all on it should be able to change a light. It has nothing to do with steel - it's not magnetic, nor is it weight. The sensors in the ground operate by inductance - the are more like a metal detector. They are actually more sensitive to aluminum than steel....

Proper position can be crucial. If they haven't been paved over and you can see the sensor cuts its easy - for the circular ones you want your bike to be over the outside of the circle turning the front wheel to match the circumference usually helps. For the square type position your bike over the edge. For the square type with a center cut position your bike over the center cut. If they have been paved over hopefully the DOT will put markings down !

We also have a law that states if you wait a certain amount of time and the light doesn't change you can go through - this is for all vehicles, not just bikes and meant in the case of a broken light.

[Bike Chick]

If there's no traffic, I run it. You really don't have a lot of choice unless you want to wait forever.

I didn't know steel bikes will trip the sensor. I'll give it a try.

[tzvia]

I have one at the first light I come to when commuting to work. At 6:15am, there are rarely cars to trigger it as it's an odd light with a 'left on the arrow' facing me because it's the end of a major avenue, but not on my side as it's the side coming from a residential neighborhood. If I go hit the walk button (only on the left side, as the right has no ped crossing, I said it was an odd light pattern), it only goes 'WALK' while the opposite side has the 'left on the arrow' and my side still does not change. Crap. The sensor is worthless, I've bounced on the edge, set my bike down, cursed at it. Nothing. It's wait for a car, or cross on the left side walk, then cross again to get to the right side so I can continue. To think that right across the street is where the 'bike lane' starts. Getting there can be a hassle.

[Lesley_x]

I actually didn't know they didn't pick up bikes *embarassed*

Tbh then, I'd probably start running it since the street on my route normally has very few cars.

[Crankin]

There is one of these on my old commute; it is a common way for cyclists to cross a major 4 lane highway, with a median. The light is an "odd" crossing on a highway, for what is essentially a residential street.
There is a sensor, but I could never find it. At 6 AM, it was a wait, but even worse, sometimes when the light did change, I would get stuck in the middle, by the median. There are enough cars on the highway, even at this hour, to make it dicey to run it. I began to anticipate the light changing, when I could see a car waiting, and start rolling across if the opposite light turned yellow and I was absolutely sure there were no cars. That was still scary as people here routinely go through yellow lights and reds, too in these situations.
What's really strange is that according to a friend, there used to be a walk signal here, but it was taken out. You can see where the button used to be. I wonder if someone tried to cross on the signal and got killed...

[TrekTheKaty]

We have a light on our regular route that never changes for us. We wait, and wait for a car. It's a relatively busy side road, and everybody is turning instead of crossing. It leads to the highway overpass, so the morning are terrible. Occassionally we get a car, but we usually have to run it. I've contacted the road department (after research from here) and asked them to adjust the sensitivity. I received an email back saying they couldn't. Bummer. We live in a bike friendly town, so I need to try again.

I've read someplaces, if you wait a cycle then it's legal to run it. I try to do that but 45 sec sounds better.

[skhill]

My city is slowly, as budgets allow, converting to optical sensors. Can't happen soon enought for me. If I get stuck with a red that won't change, I'll wait for a while, hoping for a car. When I get sick of waiting, I'll go when it's clear.

What bugs me even more is when a car does come up behind me, but won't pull forward far enough to activate the sensor. There are drivers around here that will pull up to just a yard behind another car/truck, but keep 15 feet behind a bike stopped at an intersection. Crazy.

[limewave]

We have one on our route. And although I normally make it a point to follow all traffic laws, this light I do run. I always come to a complete stop first. I used to hit the "pedestrian" button on the light, but it never seemed to work.

[TrekTheKaty]

I'm convinced the pedestrian button is like the "close" button in an elevator--it's not hooked up, just there to make you feel like you have control ;)

[Pyannyplayer]

Here's a link to what Missouri has done on this issue:
http://mobikefed.org/2009/08/new-law-allows-bicyclists-to-proceed-through-malfunctioning-red-lights.php

They even mention that "malfunctioning" can also mean that the sensor wasn't tripped. Apparently they are also working on the sensors (marking them, for instance) so people know where to be to at least try to trip them. :)

I'm one that won't blow through the light or stop sign no matter what. I still stop and look; even at 5:00 a.m. I do that on my bike or driving my car. it IS nice to know, though, that after I've waited without a green light that I can go as LEGALLY long as it's safe. Phew!

BTW You can get pulled over on your bike for running lights or stop signs. I speak from experience...when I was younger and pretty stupid. Nothing like being stopped by the county police for running a stop sign! I only pulled over because I saw the flashing lights. Didn't know they were for me!!! :eek:

Lorie

[OakLeaf]

I've read someplaces, if you wait a cycle then it's legal to run it. I try to do that but 45 sec sounds better.

That's a matter of state law, so you'd need to look up your state statutes and make sure there aren't local ordinances that are stricter.

Still, if there's not a cop in sight, honestly "safe" counts for a whole lot more than "legal" in my book.

I mean, you ALL take the lane even in states where it's illegal to do so, right?! I certainly plan to continue to do so in Florida. It was dangerous enough already before they passed that new law.

Most of the lights that give me problems don't have multiple lights for turning lanes, etc., so there's no such thing as a "cycle." Just a circular green, one lane in each direction, and it either turns or it doesn't.

[soprano]

I figured out the roadbed sensors a long time ago and am rarely unable to trip them, except during heavy rain. I have no idea why rain would interfere.

I never seem to manage to trip the optical sensors. We're talking about the little camera thing that sits on top of the stop light or pole and looks across the intersection, right? What's the trick? I have to cross a busy road during my commute and I've watched a certain light cycle without me too many times to count. (For any Austinites, this would be crossing MLK at San Jacinto. I've recently resorted to making an illegal right on red and heading up the hill.)

[ny biker]

I'm convinced the pedestrian button is like the "close" button in an elevator--it's not hooked up, just there to make you feel like you have control ;)

Here in Arlington VA the pedestrian buttons do work, and in fact you get a longer green if you press the button than if a car triggers the light to change. If I notified the county government about an intersection where the sensor didn't sense my bike, they would probably change it (assuming money in the budget, etc.). .

[jenniferh]

I try to hit the walk button. Recently I was at a left turn waiting and waiting through 2 cycles of the light, but it wasn't safe for me to just run it. Finally a car stopped behind me...like 20yds behind me. Nice for him to be respectful, but darn I needed him to trigger that sensor. i even moved to the side and waved him forward and he just smiled. grrr. It eventually was safe and I ran it, but agravating none the less.

[maryellen]

As a NYC woman, I only experienced this recently on a WomanTours trip in Virginia. I crossed on a private ferry just off the C&O trail (I think I'm remembering that correctly) and somehow dilly-dallied and missed all the cars going through the light. Took me a while to figure out what the problem was. I couldn't find the sensor and I ended up having to wait until the ferry arrived again and unloaded some cars which then triggered the light to change.

Ha, ha, that's a light I won't forget for a while! :D