I have a similar story from today. I was coming down the cemetery where it
meets the highway(Macadam) by the Sellwood bridge. There were no cars behind
me to trip the sensor and my carbon bike just wouldn't do it. I think the
magnets were paved over because I couldn't see them. I ended up waiting a
couple minutes and went on the red light. I have no idea if it's true or
not, but I've heard that if a bike is at a red light more than 2 minutes,
than you are able to go ahead and go through when there are no cars. Not
sure if it's a law, but I've always done it that way.
Another thing: I often have to ride over the Sellwood bridge to commute
around Portland, the once known as the most bike friendly city in the United
States. Right before the Sellwood bridge starts there are signs that say
"bikes on bridge roadway"... So I go ahead and start sprinting and get up to
about 25mph while riding over, and of course everyone still honks, flips me
off, curses at me, and tells me to ride on the sidewalk. The side"walk" is
obviously for people that walk, not for cyclists. What is America turning
into?! The people with the fancy cars, air conditioned with leather seats,
heat, and everything they can possibly ask for, are now complaining about us
cyclists that actually work physically hard to commute and to save our
ecosystem as much as possible. I just wish drivers would pay attention to us
cyclists and actually notice signs that say "bikes on road" or "share the
road".
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The following is a short rant and should be deleted by most everyone. I
expect there will be requests to be removed from the list shortly.
Michael, you have stumbled upon one of my many (many, many) pet peeves.
Traffic control light triggers. Many people still labor under the
misconception that traffic control lights are triggered by pressure pads
but
that has not been the case since the early 80's. As you quite rightly point
out, most triggers are round metal detector loops. Some are diamond shaped
and a few are rectangular and yes, stopping on the edge will improve your
chances of tripping the signal. I'm not at all sure they always work for
bicycles, especially carbon ones. Especially carbon bikes with carbon
cranks, rims, stems and bars. There was actually a device marketed a few
years back one could strap on the bottom of their bike to trip traffic
signals. I guess it didn't catch on. I try to get my crank and other metal
parts as close to the tar line as possible but I don't think it's always
enough to trip the light. To make matters worse, cars pulling up from
behind
will not get close enough to stop on the second loop behind me. Those
idiotic green boxes and well meaning drivers make people stop too far back
to trip the signal. When I look back at them, motion them closer and point
to the ground indicating where the loop is, nine times out of ten they just
look at me like I'm the two headed creature from planet ten. I don't think
most drivers have a clue what makes the lights work and I don't know how to
get the word out. When I know I will be turning left soon, I will try to
let
a car go ahead of me to trip the light but there is not always one
available
and again, well meaning drivers are reluctant to pass me when they can see
I
want to merge left. They will slow down and motion me ahead. The more I
slow, the more they slow. This is a case where Portland drivers are so
courteous to cyclists, they actually make it more difficult to navigate the
streets lawfully.
And another thing: Yielding the right of way! The proper thing for cyclists
to do is navigate the streets as any other vehicle following the rules.
Roll
up to a four way stop. The vehicle on the right should go first, right? But
the driver on the right motions you to go ahead of him. I won't do it. They
motion again. I put a foot down and wait. Another rolls up behind each of
us
and still the guy on the right motions me more franticly. I fold my arms,
look away and finally the well meaning courteous driver goes restoring
order
to the intersection. Why won't I go? Because if I take the yielded right of
way and the drivers foot slips off the brake onto the accelerator or if
he's
driving a Toyota that accelerates on it's own and hits me, I'm the one at
fault.
To you courteous drivers, THANK YOU! But if you don't follow the rules, it
just makes a dangerous commute more challenging.
-end rant-
----- Original Message -----
From: "mohair"
To: "OBRA remailer"
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 9:30 PM
Subject: [OBRA Chat] bikes and turn signal sensors
>
> I learned something today. I was coming down Capital Hwy to turn onto
> Terwilliger Blvd. and even though I crossed the "loop" in plenty of time
> to trigger the signal, it didn't change. As chance would have it, there
> were two ODOT techies working on the signal box and they explained a few
> things. One: If there is a bicycle stenciled in the turn lane, ride over
> it. Two: If there is no bike stencil, go over the signal loop at the
> outer edge. (The ring of tar where they sealed the hole is the clue.)
> They said that that way there would be a better signal to the controller.
> If they make the controller "too sensitive" it can be triggered by a car
> going past in the "straight through" lane. Which makes sense, seeing as
> how a car has a lot more steel that a bike.
>
> To cut to the chase, I now know how the signals are "tuned" and will do
my
> best to position my bike to give the best signal. If I do this and the
> signal doesn't trigger, I can at least present my case and they can tweak
> the controller a bit.
>
> And yes, I thought of hanging out and tripping the turn signal several
> times for them, but there was sudden flood of people wanting to turn left
> and go up Terwilliger, probably going up to Pill Hill to punch in.
>
>
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--
*Ian Mastenbrook*