Letter about traffic light sensors, to the Wellington City Council

[Steam]

I'm going to send this letter to the council tomorrow. On paper, to make it more official-like.

FROM:
From Jamie McEwan
125 ***** Road
Wellington

TO:
Soon Teck Kong
Traffic Operations
Wellington City Council
PO Box 2199
Wellington

28/05/2007

Dear Sir,
I am a motorcyclist and I commute every morning from Crofton Downs to work in the city centre. I start at 6am, so there is little traffic at this time of the morning. My motorcycle (indeed 99% of motorcycles on the road today) is built primarily of aluminium and alloy, both of which have low inductance and do not tend to trigger traffic light sensor grids.
When I pull up at red traffic lights they often do not change for me, even though I stop right over the under-road sensor grid.
I must wait for a car to come up behind me to trigger the sensor, and then I have to ride forward a few meters over the lines indicating where you are supposed to stop, so the car behind me can drive over the sensor grid and trigger the traffic lights. This means I have to stop some way into the actual intersection, a fairly dangerous thing to do.
Another alternative is to run the red light, which I usually end up doing. There are frequently no cars at 5.30am to trigger the sensors for me so I would be waiting there for perhaps ten minutes. I am fully aware running a red is illegal.
The final alternative is to put the side-stand or centre-stand of the motorcycle down while still moving. The stands are made of steel, and therefore trigger the sensor when they move over the grid. However this is dangerous to my feet, creates showers of sparks, and also scores deep lines in the white painted arrows, which I assume are fairly expensive to repaint.
Taking another route to work will not change the problem, as there are traffic lights along all possible routes to the centre of the city.

I talked to a technician who works in Palmerston North and he said he always sets the sensor grid so it will detect his own motorcycle. He said unequivocally that all traffic light sensors are sensitive enough to pick up even light motorcycles and scooters, and if a traffic light is not doing so it is ill-adjusted. He also added that if a sensor cannot detect a motorcycle when set at high sensitivity, it is faulty.

Are the traffic light technicians in Wellington instructed to set the sensitivity of the grid so they will pick up motorcycles? If not, why not?
I stopped and talked personally to one of the technicians working on lights at an intersection on Tinakori Road, and he said it was a job that took less than a minute, and that he would be happy to increase the sensitivity for me. I have not had problems at that intersection since, it detects my bike immediately.

Could you please clarify the council's position on this issue?
I would also appreciate an indication of how the council intends to fix this problem.

This is not an isolated problem experienced by just one biker at just a few intersections, it is a constant issue affecting hundreds of commuters every day and throughout the city. According to LTNZ statistics motorcycle and scooter registrations are soaring in Wellington, which makes this a problem that will only get worse in future.

I have posted a copy of this letter on a website that I and many Wellington motorcyclists visit often, so please be aware that your response will be read by several hundred people.

Yours sincerely and with great hope!

Jamie McEwan

[Kflasher]

sweet keep us posted on you reply

[James Deuce]

Yo!

Don't get arsey, just ring.

Tell them the specific intersection, and street and they'll fix the sensitivity. It really is that simple and you don't need to go all letter-hippy on them.

The stands don't trigger the sensors, as it is entirely electro magnetic. Putting the stand down helps by extending the EM field of the bike closer to the sensor.

They already know about the sensitivity setting and it really is just a matter of asking politely for the sensor to be adjusted at the intersection of so and so roads.

[magicfairy]

I once asked a traffic cop what I was supposed to do in this situation. He told me I was to either
a) push my bike backwards until I found another street to go down
b) wait for a car - I said "even if I had to wait 12 hours for a car to come along"
he said yes , if you go thru the red light it is an offence.

So unless you can push your bike backwards for possibly hundreds of meters, you are legally supposed to sit there.
I'd love to be at the head of a queue, holding up lots and lots of cars (and thus unable to push my bike backwards...) for hours. And tell the cops "I am obeying the law"

[Devil]

I once asked a traffic cop what I was supposed to do in this situation. He told me I was to either
a) push my bike backwards until I found another street to go down
b) wait for a car - I said "even if I had to wait 12 hours for a car to come along"
he said yes , if you go thru the red light it is an offence.

So unless you can push your bike backwards for possibly hundreds of meters, you are legally supposed to sit there.
I'd love to be at the head of a queue, holding up lots and lots of cars (and thus unable to push my bike backwards...) for hours. And tell the cops "I am obeying the law"

He just wanted to you to go backwards so he could slap you with dangerous driving for reversing down a carriageway...

[sunhuntin]

there was somethin on campbell live, following a local tosser and his wife [? i guess] their shared scooter. i recall them being told they could legally run reds. the wife said she often gets off, pushing the pedestrian button and walks across with it. the interviewer said there was nothing stopping the council/their contractors from fixing the lights... nothin but pure laziness.

there is one intersection, which is totally crap. one side, i can sit for hours. [i often run it as i also start when there is no traffic to help] the opposite side, it "feels" me several meters back from the actual grid, and changes before ive even dropped down to first.

if i rung up, id be making them work on every single set of lights, cos they are all not working for bikes of any size [50cc upwards]

[James Deuce]

if i rung up, id be making them work on every single set of lights, cos they are all not working for bikes of any size [50cc upwards]

So do it.

As far as Wellington goes nudemetalz has said on KB before the WCC will respond to polite requests to adjust the sensor sensitivity and he works in the traffic dept.

[Hitcher]

there was somethin on campbell live, following a local tosser and his wife [? i guess] their shared scooter.

That was Wanganui. People get shot there when the local gangs can't pronounce their names.

[Pwalo]

Cripes, I just realised that I don't have to go through a single set of lights on my commute. Well one on my way home, but there's always a few cars lined up under the m'way heading up the Gorge.

Yep, just put a polite request in to the Council. They usually seem quite reasonable to talk to.

[LardEmbargo]

Traffic lights not detecting your bike's EM field, you say?

How about a Giant Bike-Mounted Tesla Coil Of Doom!!? More EM fields than you can shake a shaking implement of your choice at.

That'll learn em.

[Nasty]

The thing is in Wellington there are at least half a dozen sets that do not trigger with a bike .. and I can't remember them cos I just get pissed each time I get stuck!

[YLWDUC]

Traffic lights not detecting your bike's EM field, you say?
How about a Giant Bike-Mounted Tesla Coil Of Doom!!? More EM fields than you can shake a shaking implement of your choice at.
That'll learn em.

Just make sure you build a TEMPEST proof box to keep your swimmers happy

[LardEmbargo]

Just make sure you build a TEMPEST proof box to keep your swimmers happy

well duh :) who'd venture outside without their lead-lined underpants on these days anyway?

[Glass_rain]

if this happens, I just flick the lights off and on and rev the engine,
seems to work for me

[Steam]

So do it.

As far as Wellington goes nudemetalz has said on KB before the WCC will respond to polite requests to adjust the sensor sensitivity and he works in the traffic dept.

Yep, but I want to have them pay attention to every set of lights as a matter of general maintenance, whenever they open the box to fiddle. I ride over the entire damn city, I'll be damned if I'm going to write down every single set of lights and call them in one by one.