Pointing at Drivers?

[SadieKate]

My town is full of pavement sensors. They are tripped by steel. Therefore, you either need to ride a steel bike, make sure the front person in your pack is on steel bike, hope a car shows up real soon, or use caution and go. This supposedly bike-friendly town thinks that is is "safe" to place the buttons for bicyclists on the far right side of a multi-laned road with both left and right turn lanes. Ah well, they also think that separate bike paths cutting across shopping mall entrances with the car stop sign beyond the path is a good thing. Oh, and let me tell you about the number of shopping areas where the bike path and the sidewalk are one and the same.

[Dianyla]

I'm usually able to trip the sensor. Learn how to identify the magnetic sensor in the asphalt. This should look like a shiny black circular or square design that would be right underneath a car if it were in the lane stopped a few feet before the line. Some intersections also have a sensor line that extends over to the bike lane, and a bicycle can trip it easily, but the majority of intersections only have sensors for cars.

When I'm stuck at a light with no cars around, I scoot over to the car sensor and trigger it. Just standing with the bike upright over the sensor won't do it, you have to tilt the bike down and get more magnetic metal within a foot of the sensor. You also need a steel bike. With enough practice, you can get good at doing this while standing and keeping one foot clipped in.

The way I do it: I unclip my left foot, and then move it about 1.5 feet to the left of my bike. Right foot stays clipped in, positioned at the bottom of the stroke. I let go of the left handlebar and hold onto the bike with just my right hand, and I am keeping the brake lever squeezed so that the bike doesn't move forward or backward. Then, tilt the bike down to the left until it's about 8-10" above the pavement. Hold it there for 1-2 seconds, then just pull it back upright and move your left foot back in. This trips 99% of sensors in the Portland area.

And the 1% of sensors that I fail to trip, I just wait for the coast to be clear and then I run it.

[administrator]

Here are some links about tripping traffic sensors. Any conductive material will work - aluminum rims actually trip the sensors better than steel...


http://www.humantransport.org/bicycl...nals/green.htm
http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/actuator.htm


and for the technically inclined:
http://humantransport.org/bicycledri.../detection.htm


- Jeff "yes, I'm a tech geek" M.

[DeniseGoldberg]

Here are some links about tripping traffic sensors. Any conductive material will work - aluminum rims actually trip the sensors better than steel...
- Jeff "yes, I'm a tech geek" M.

Hey, thanks Jeff! Now I'm challenged by the knowledge, and I'm going to have to try to get those crazy lights to change...

--- Denise

[Lynne]

Ok, thanks for the advice. I have been rolling through some, stopping at others, hitting the walk button on others...nothing consistent. I think I'll just consistently stop at the line, unclip (ok, unclip and THEN stop, lol), look both ways and run it.

I need to find out about that law in Oregon, that's very interesting.

Also, yes there are actually a few lights that are triggered by bikes. I love those and wish they had them at every light!!