Stoplights with vehicle sensors

[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.

[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.

[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!