Unfriendly traffic lights are unfriendly

[swbarnett]

It's not a motorway though; no reason they shouldn't be there.

Indeed. I had a closer look further down the road a little bit and it does seem that there is a ped path leading off the road.

[Floppy disk]

So I did email Auckland City Council requesting an increase of sensors' sensitivity at one particular traffic light, and they forwarded my request to Auckland Transport who called me and told me the following:

- While sensors are more sensitive on the corners of the rectangular shapes, such extra sensitivity is not tremendous, meaning don't have high hopes it would always work.

- As some said above, the rule is "please tell Auckland Transport" so that they adjust the sensitivity. If no one tells them they won't know.

They did just that for my request and asked me to test it saying that if it does not work then they would need a week to replace the sensors altogether.

- They don't know about the legality of going through red lights if the sensors are not working for bikers. Maybe cops would be able to answer that.

[Akzle]

traffic lights are optional. So are painted lines. And cops.

[Berries]

They don't know about the legality of going through red lights if the sensors are not working for bikers.

What might work for a Busa won't necessarily work for a GN250 so you have to be pretty sure they are not working before going through a red. I know a couple of sets that sometimes don't get me. I will give it a couple of minutes or so and then go if there are no cars around. I expect a ticket if I get seen and expect I will have problems trying to prove the sensors weren't working so I make doubly sure there are no cops around.

[chasio]

Wouldn't it be easy for some cunt to stick their chewing gum on the sensor and piss off a lot of people

Best advice in thread goes to mom/iyre and hayden, park on the inductive loops, and if that doesn't work tell the council!

I read somewhere that starter motors have a pretty good kick for the loops to pick up. If I ever get stuck (having stopped over a cut line), I hit the kill switch and then restart the bike. This either works or I have had many happy coincidences (which is possible: I am generally a happy chappy).

[Scuba_Steve]

It should be law that all lights must go through a complete cycle regardless of detection, so many times I've been at lights with no-one round I'm on red eventually all lights go red just to green light the same set of lights that have been green the whole time... If all lights are gonna go red the least they can do is give the other set a 1 vehicle green light so bikes don't have to run the red.

[Erelyes]

http://www.revzilla.com/product/aman...-light-changer Now you can waste $25 on a magnet to make the lights change

[hayd3n]

http://www.revzilla.com/product/aman...-light-changer Now you can waste $25 on a magnet to make the lights change

or get the magnets out of a hard drive

[bogan]

http://www.revzilla.com/product/aman...-light-changer Now you can waste $25 on a magnet to make the lights change

Well... You can waste $25 but it won't make the lights change; magnetic field superposition theory just means adding another field doesn't affect the first one.

[chasio]

Well... You can waste $25 but it won't make the lights change; magnetic field superposition theory just means adding another field doesn't affect the first one.

Does the "restart the engine" schtick fit into that category?

[Monsterbishi]

Does the "restart the engine" schtick fit into that category?

You got it.

Traffic lights operate using induction fields, the 'sensors' under the road are nothing more than loops of insulated wire.

Guess what we call them in the trade - Loops!

A healthy set of loops will trigger from a metallic mass the size of a small toolbox.

[GDOBSSOR]

I just hate those traffic lights that are not changing periodically, yet do not respond to a heavy bike with a heavy rider on them. There are few around and I always end up praying a car might come soon enough. Yesterday I had to roll forward and ask the car behind me to advance so that the weight detectors work. But last week I was in the middle of the night, no car around, and I waited and waited, and they weighed my options: Should I go off the bike walk to the pedestrians light and push it leaving the bike unattended with a running engine? Or shall I just run through the traffic light? What would/did you do n such situation?

If it was the dead of night in such a situation... I would make damn sure no other traffic was around (including a possible police officer) and then run the light. I wouldn't want to leave my bike unattended with the engine going. Although... Are there cameras yet?

[Fern]

Dear Fern

Subject: Mount Eden Road – Traffic Signal Phasing



Thank you for contacting Auckland Transport on 17 November 2013 regarding traffic light phasing at the intersection of Mount Eden Road and Mount Albert Road.Your concerns were passed onto our Road Corridor Operations Department for investigation.

We understand that you and other motorcyclists find it difficult to use signalised intersections around Auckland due to the fact that the vehicle sensors are not able to detect lighter modes of transportation, such as scooters, motorcycles, and bicycles and we are committed towards improving sensor detection for all forms of transport, in turn improving your experience.

Therefore, upon receiving your request, we sent out contractors to adjust the sensitivity of the vehicle sensors at this intersection. We have adjusted and made the sensor more sensitive, however as this can compromise the operation of the intersection as the sensor may pick up adjacent passing vehicles, sensors may need to be readjusted to prevent frequent false detection from other vehicles.

We trust the above addresses the issues you have raised and appreciate you taking the time to bring the matter to our attention.

[Berries]

Of course, there is another option - http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news...mage-lambasted

[Tazz]

Of course, there is another option - http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news...mage-lambasted

I'm surprised anyone stopped for those at all. They were useless. Hopefully they sort the other bridge before it loses it's controller too