"Bicycles stop on GREEN" ??

[email hidden] (Douglas Harrington) wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was riding along on route 6 in Seekonk, MA the other day (on the
shoulder
as usual) and came to a red light at a 4-way intersection. Pulled up
behind someone and noticed a sign on the side of the road reading
"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? How are you
supposed to stop on green (and why the hell would you want to)? Am I
missing something? Needless to say I did NOT stop on green, as that
is rediculous and stupid along with being dangerous (are you supposed
to proceed on RED??). Also, since I noticed that one sign i've seen
several along US 6, but only in MA. Anyone have any info on them (and
their meaning) before I email MassHighway?

Sometimes small towns pass bizarre laws that only apply locally. Maybe
that's what's going on here? Maybe that town doesn't have a local cycling
community that objected to a "safety" measure?

--
Mike Barrs

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Douglas Harrington) said:

I was riding along on route 6 in Seekonk, MA the other day (on the
shoulder
as usual) and came to a red light at a 4-way intersection. Pulled up
behind someone and noticed a sign on the side of the road reading
"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? How are you
supposed to stop on green (and why the hell would you want to)? Am I
missing something? Needless to say I did NOT stop on green, as that
is rediculous and stupid along with being dangerous (are you supposed
to proceed on RED??). Also, since I noticed that one sign i've seen
several along US 6, but only in MA. Anyone have any info on them (and
their meaning) before I email MassHighway?

Just a guess -- maybe the sign is addressed to right-turning
cyclists, admonishing them to come to a full stop before
proceeding with their turn, as in right-on-red turns? Or
maybe it applies to left-turning cyclists. But since you
mention the sign is placed at the side of the road, I'm
more inclined to consider it applies to right-turners.

Those are the only possibilities that remotely make sense to
me at this point, with the info you've given, anyway. I'd
figure straight-through cyclists should get the green light,
same as everybody else.

By all means, email MassHighway. This sign you've discovered
is just too weird. Say -- the sign isn't associated with a
bike lane by any chance, is it? (Please say it ain't so.)

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Douglas Harrington said:

I was riding along on route 6 in Seekonk, MA the other day (on the
shoulder
as usual) and came to a red light at a 4-way intersection. Pulled up
behind someone and noticed a sign on the side of the road reading
"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? How are you
supposed to stop on green (and why the hell would you want to)? Am I
missing something? Needless to say I did NOT stop on green, as that
is rediculous and stupid along with being dangerous (are you supposed
to proceed on RED??). Also, since I noticed that one sign i've seen
several along US 6, but only in MA. Anyone have any info on them (and
their meaning) before I email MassHighway?

Until recently, Mass. was the only place I have ever cycled. I have never
seen such a sign. I have seen signs saying "Cyclists stop on line for
green" which means something completely different. The intent is for
cyclists to stop on the line _when red_ in order to trip the sensor. Are
you leaving out a graphic between "on" and "green" that is also painted on
the ground, showing where cyclists should stop to be detected and change the
light from red to green?

Austin

Douglas Harrington said:

I was riding along on route 6 in Seekonk, MA the other day (on the
shoulder as usual) and came to a red light at a 4-way intersection.

Pulled

Quoted message said:

up behind someone and noticed a sign on the side of the road reading
"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? ...

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any info on them (and
their meaning) before I email MassHighway?

This isn't the first time that sign's been seen in Massachusetts. See
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=5842
They never figured it out either.

--
Paul Turner

In article <[email hidden]>,

AustinMN said:

Until recently, Mass. was the only place I have ever cycled. I have never
seen such a sign. I have seen signs saying "Cyclists stop on line for
green" which means something completely different. The intent is for
cyclists to stop on the line _when red_ in order to trip the sensor.

Now /that/ makes sense.

Quoted message said:

Are
you leaving out a graphic between "on" and "green" that is also painted on
the ground, showing where cyclists should stop to be detected and change the
light from red to green?

hmmm ... as I understood it, the sign was on the roadside
rather than on the road itself.

Either way, I too wonder if some of the wording on the sign
was obscured somehow.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

I am a cyclist in Mass. (Bridgewater area) and I've seen that sign at many
intersections, as well as a small dotted 'lane' painted on the roadway. I
could not figure it out either, but I like that suggestion that it is where
you should be to trip the traffic signal. I've spent several minutes at
some intersections waiting for the light to change to green and it just
doesn't happen unless a CAR needs to proceed.

We need a definitive answer. Maybe at www.massbike.org

Steve

"Douglas Harrington" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was riding along on route 6 in Seekonk, MA the other day (on the
shoulder
as usual) and came to a red light at a 4-way intersection. Pulled up
behind someone and noticed a sign on the side of the road reading
"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? How are you
supposed to stop on green (and why the hell would you want to)? Am I
missing something? Needless to say I did NOT stop on green, as that
is rediculous and stupid along with being dangerous (are you supposed
to proceed on RED??). Also, since I noticed that one sign i've seen
several along US 6, but only in MA. Anyone have any info on them (and
their meaning) before I email MassHighway?

Thanks.

Douglas Harrington said:

I was riding along on route 6 in Seekonk, MA the other day (on the
shoulder
as usual) and came to a red light at a 4-way intersection. Pulled up
behind someone and noticed a sign on the side of the road reading
"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? How are you
supposed to stop on green (and why the hell would you want to)? Am I
missing something? Needless to say I did NOT stop on green, as that
is rediculous and stupid along with being dangerous (are you supposed
to proceed on RED??). Also, since I noticed that one sign i've seen
several along US 6, but only in MA. Anyone have any info on them (and
their meaning) before I email MassHighway?

I've seen the same thing on Rt 111 in Boxborough, MA, right about where
it crosses over Rt 495. I've always laughed it off.

Probably they just want you to look out for merging traffic in the
intersection, but I always do that anyway, and in any event, I've never
been at that intersection when there was much traffic.

Dave

Douglas Harrington said:

"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? How are you
supposed to stop on green (and why the hell would you want to)?

These crazy zen signs are all over Eastern Massachusetts.

They actually read, "Bicycles stop *for* green" (emphasis added), but the
brain quite reasonably parses that as "on."

It is not a goofball local ordinance. It is not a strange way to say yield
or be careful or proceed with caution or anything like that. It is just a
very stupid sign.

I can't cite the source (though I think I read it in the Boston Globe), but

AustinMN was absolutely right when he or she said:

The intent is for
cyclists to stop on the line _when red_ in order to trip the sensor.

There is an utterly incomprehensible drawing of a bicycle and a dotted line
(where you are supposed to find the sensor, maybe) on these signs as well.

Armed with this knowledge, one can suppose that the word "for" in "Bicycles
stop for green" means "to bring about," not "on." (As in "Push button for
walk light."😉

This has to be the stupidest bit of signage in a world overrun with stupid
signage. Monty Python-esque does not begin to describe it.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]

(Douglas Harrington) said:

I was riding along on route 6 in Seekonk, MA the other day (on the
shoulder
as usual) and came to a red light at a 4-way intersection. Pulled up
behind someone and noticed a sign on the side of the road reading
"Bicycles stop on green". What is that supposed to mean? How are you
supposed to stop on green (and why the hell would you want to)? Am I
missing something? Needless to say I did NOT stop on green, as that
is rediculous and stupid along with being dangerous (are you supposed
to proceed on RED??). Also, since I noticed that one sign i've seen
several along US 6, but only in MA. Anyone have any info on them (and
their meaning) before I email MassHighway?

Thanks.

In Massachusetts, you should always "stop on green" because somebody is
probably "running a red light".