Traffic lights

"Doug Kanter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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"Fritz M" <[email hidden]+> wrote in message
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Doug Kanter said:

The sensors are electromagnetic, and made to detect big chunks of

metal,

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like cars. I seriously doubt they could be adjusted to detect a bike.

In the U.S., all modern inductive loop detectors are designed to detect bicycles. If they don't
detect bicycles, they are not designed to

current

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traffic standards and are defective.

Hmm. Interesting. Do you know if they suffer more wear in places where

salt

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is applied to the roads at a rate of 1 ton per minute per 100 sq feet?
(i.e.: Rochester NY)

Not to mention many jurisdictions don't have the money to replace all the old versions. There are
many lights where I've had to ride my bike through due to their not changing.

--
Bob ctviggen at rcn dot com

Doug Kanter said:

In the pavement here, I don't see any of the shapes described by others in this newsgroup. How
shallow is the placement of these detectors?

I think the wires are placed about an inch or two below the surface. They use a pavement saw to cut
a rectangle, lay in the wire (it's got black rubber insulation) then use an epoxy compound to seal
the crack. The epoxy filler is visible in the road surface.

If the road gets re-paved, I suppose you wouldn't be able to see anything. I don't believe they have
to do a reinstallation for every repaving.

Regarding your earlier posts: the units can _definitely_ be adjusted to detect bikes, as I said
earlier. We've had that done here several times. The problem is, if the coil placement in the road
isn't designed to concentrate the electromagnetic field, it may then respond to vehicles it should
ignore, like those passing by in the opposite direction.

And road salt has essentially no effect. The only one I can think of is, at one light the pavement
broke up and exposed one of the wires, which was soon broken. Some say road salt hastens pavement
breakup. If so, I suppose it can indirectly harm the system - but that's kind of a stretch, I think.

--
Frank Krygowski [email hidden]

Steve Vallee said:

This might sound like a dumb question... If you're supposed to obey traffic signals, what do you
do when you're the only one in, say, a left turn lane and the light won't turn green because it
doesn't sense that you're even there? No cars come to make a left so the light never turns green.
Do you just go through it? Will a cop pull me over?

There's a light on my commute route that gives me a similar problem. The problem isn't
detectors, it's timing. This light stays red in my direction for two minutes straight, then
turns green for barely five seconds. (I go through here in the very early morning.) My solution
is to ride off onto the sidewalk just short of the intersection, and hit the pedestrian button.
Works like a charm.

Bill
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John David Powers said:

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They can be adjusted to detect a bike and they often are adjusted to detect a bike.

Jon Isaacs

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They can be, but will they be. I contacted my local traffic engineer to request some of the lights
on my commute be adjusted to detect my bike. No response. I place both wheels on the edge of the
inductive loop and get no detection. It's fine now that I commute during high traffic hours but
this summer I'll be leaving for work before dawn to stay cool and will have to run the red lights.

Try putting your complaint in writing, and send copies to the head of the traffic department and
perhaps your elected officials. Explain that this is a dangerous situation, not just an
inconvenience. Let them know that if they fail to correct the problem, they will be held liable for
any injuries that result. That should get some action.

Art Harris