@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Don't forget to stock up on blinker fluid, I bet that thing uses a LOT!

bpapa9013

@iaintgoingthere: I do the same thing in my car to fcuk with the bikers (slow down at a green light, then gun it while they are in the intersection)...

Hahaha, so much fun, so many compound fractures.

bpapa9013

@wezelboy: I wait for one signal, and if no car pulls up behind me to tag it, I will try to find a lull and go through. But it is the worst part of my commute is the waiting at lights that will never change, so this is a very exciting concept.

Monty

@Jesustron: Oh, so that's why I hate bikers whenever I'm in downtown KC.

The bikers in my town (not KC) actually have to follow traffic laws, because they are actually enforced here, so this item although bulky could be useful.

bpapa9013

I always figured they were pressure sensors...

LastAndLeast

@iaintgoingthere: Let me see if I have the logic right here:

Traffic signals do not change because you are on a bike so cyclists do not bother waiting for a light that will never come. So, it makes no sense at all to give them a device that might allow them to use intersections like everyone else.

Do I have that right?

Monty

@jwardell:

I'm not a cyclist, but my understanding is that if there is no designated bike lane, they have as much right to use the roadway as any other vehicle.

jchabotte

Fantastic; I've always wondered how those sensors work!

Ike_Skelton

Those sensors are usually in the middle of the lane though. Not off to the side where the bikers should be. Of course most just blow through the stop signs and red lights and expect right-of-way traffic to avoid them.

jwardell

These devices don't let you whiz through lights any faster than driving a car up to an intersection. All it does is allow the sensor to recognize the bike as a vehicle waiting for a light change.

PerspectiveX

I've actually gotten a ticket for waiting for the light in the left turn lane as the signal cycled through all of other lanes of traffic except mine a few times, then finally going when there were no cars around after waiting about 2 minutes.

Lame.

wezelboy

The is something called the Green Light Trigger, which gives your motorcycle/bike the appearance of a armored car to the magnetic loops. [www.greenlightstuff.com]

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->

cant you just put a strong rare-earth magnet on the bottom of your frame?

theorieofself

@iaintgoingthere: agreed

theorieofself

Why? Bicyclists never stop for a red light signal, or maybe just slow down to make sure they don't get pancaked by a semi-truck.

iaintgoingthere

Apparently the maker of this device don't cycle. If they did they'd know that your average urban biker doesn't see intersections in colored lights, but Cars/no Cars.

Jesustron

So Kipkay told me to put heavy-duty magnets on the bottom of the bicycle for nothing?

jchabotte

Around Boston there are a bunch of intersections that have a little picture of a bike at the stop line. It's not a dedicated bike lane, but I guess if you stop over the picture it is more sensitive.

Although I could just be making up that theory.

KStrike155

The only problem is induction loop sensors are quickly fading away in favor of camera based systems because they are cheaper, lower maintenance and don't effect the structural integrity of the road. Those little cameras you see perched on top of signal lights everywhere aren't recording anything or transmitting it anywhere for a human to view, they are just figuring out how many cars are waiting for a light to change.

jmckee

@Ike_Skelton: Same. I assumed like "LastAndLeast" that they were pressure sensors.

Kharnellius

This thing would really screw up your ground clearance.

reddingofish

We, in the Netherlands, have buttons that cyclists can press instead of the wiring in the street. And cyclists have to follow all traffic laws.

Gillonde

@wezelboy: In CA, the law is that if you wait and your bike/motorcycle does not trip it, it is legal to go through the light when it is safe. They don't really give a set time you need to wait though...probably one cycle of the lights.

aschneid

That bike rider better hope there are no bumps or curbs because its sticking way down, first rough patch and Wammo! FACEPLANT!!

VideoVampire

@Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine: Now, I want a TV-B-Gone remote that actually changes the lights to green as I'm going. Just stick it on the handlebars or a helmet.

Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine

you don't need to buy this ridiculous contraption. A strong magnet does the same thing. I have this same problem on my motorcycle. I slapped a couple rare earth magnets underneath and haven't had a problem since.

caniscream

@LastAndLeast: That are installed with a stone-saw, blowtorch and tar?

bpapa9013

@jwardell: At a lot of intersections here in CA (at least in part) they have bike lane sensors. They look just like the car ones, but they are more sensitive to trigger on a bike. They work very well.

aschneid

@bpapa9013:

I'll ride a bike just to avoid traffic laws :)

DirtyBits

@wezelboy: Heh, you can do that in MN without getting a ticket. Even on a motorcycle.

mrtallbones

@Monty: They should be ticketed whenever they don't wait for the light (unless the light is never going to change for them i.e. they esp. need this product), so this item does have a purpose.

So, no, ideally you don't have it right, but in areas where the cops don't enforce traffic laws for cyclists this item is pretty useless.

bpapa9013

@Jesustron: @Jesustron:

Word!

DirtyBits

Pfff. Fuck that. I use my eyes. I guess I'm one of the dying breed that actually stops at every red light. I figure, I'm riding on the street as other vehicles are, so I might as well abide by the signs, lines and lights, licensed or not.

Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine

@iaintgoingthere: Which is why I've hit two with my car! The joy of watching an unhelmeted head bounce on concrete is worth having the $500 deductible held up until the biker gets sued.

UofITom

@jwardell: Why would we want to be off to the side where cars try to cram past us / over us? In the absence of bike lanes, Cyclists stand a much better chance in the middle where cars have to either change lanes and go around safely. In most bigger cities the cyclist isn't moving any slower than the rest of traffic anyways.

lpranal

@PerspectiveX: Very useful if you are the only one waiting for a left turn signal as wezelboy was lamenting...

bpapa9013

@jmckee: Absolutely not true. I've worked in sign and signals. There is a control room. They don't record, but they are for human interaction. -1

CYST!

I realize a lot of bikers want it both ways, but drivers are just as bad if not worse.

I've been hit pretty bad twice by cars who either 1) don't care to look for me or 2) act surprised when they realize I was going over 2mph and thought they could sneak by in front of me.

enm4r

@caniscream: confirmed.

CYST!

@VideoVampire: Actually, I don't think it would end in a faceplant, but more like snapping that hunk of junk off of the frame, and possibly just tipping over.

Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine

In NC they made it so that people on motorcycles can treat stop lights more as guidelines, because they can't trip the loop. I imagine bicycles apply as well though.

Decaye

@iaintgoingthere:

A prejudice and discrimination against an entire group of peoples based on false generalizations about the peoples' ___________.

Yeah, that logic seems to work in all other situations, lets apply it here too.

cschmitz

@mrtallbones: On, my scooter, I've waited 2 cycles, killed it, and walked on the crosswalk, kicked it over and gone.

Then was pulled over.

Earth magnets FTW!

CYST!

@iaintgoingthere: You are so right. A guy on a bike blew through a red light and then when I slammed the brakes to keep from killing him, he flipped me off (he was not wearing a helmet either). He would have made a nice hood ornament.

Curves

So why does my radar detector warn me of X band radar when I go through stoplights sometimes?

jdbaile3

"This sensor, then, emits a signal which fools the sensors at the press of a button."

Sensors don't emit they detect. The device on the bike is a transmitter which emits a signal.

djmicheli

They've started installing special bicycle sensor strips here in Toronto.

DaddysFavourite

@jwardell: moof

ichi1

what i love is how the spandex clad wienies get all indignant when you call them on their blowing the stop sign.

godwhacker

It's amazing the number of drivers in Atlanta that sit in their car, in a turn lane, too far from the sensors. And they get furious when the light never changes. It's amuzing unless you're behind this cholesterol of traffic flow.

kaylix

Portland, Oregon is #1 when it comes to bike friendly intersections!

Portland has installed Bike Boxes at many of their busiest intersections allowing bikers to win at intersections.

The bike box is an intersection safety design to prevent bicycle/car collisions, especially those between drivers turning right and bicyclists going straight. It is a green box on the road with a white bicycle symbol inside. It includes green bicycle lanes approaching and leading from the box.

[snipurl.com]

discwog

@Gillonde: Yeah, that's supposedly how it works here too.

In practice, pushing buttons and obeying traffic laws requires effort, so nobody takes the time.

m4ximusprim3

It may or may not have an impact on the road induction loops, but it certainly is a chick magnet.

Slartibartfast

I have said it before, but it needs repeating: It should be a requirement for getting a drivers license that people commute to work on a bicycle at least once a year. You just do not realize how fun it is to dodge automobiles on a certain-death contraption until you try it.

Monty

so presumably a crooked person could use one of these to make a ticket come out at the entrance to a parking garage, and then use that ticket to pay for a much shorter stay? But who would do that terrible thing! ?

ecobore

here in the Bay Area (Nor Cal) the intersections have an area of the pavement that is marked for bicycles and it has a smaller, but more sensitive loop for metal bikes.. not sure what to do with a carbon fiber frame..

LordieLordie

@CYST!: Did you contest the ticket. I would be curious to see what a judge has to say.

twilight-arc

@DirtyBits:

Going out of your way to live by the phrase "fuck the police." Epitome of badassery, sir.

Darthvinder

@CYST!: cyst, you are wrong. the cameras usually mounted on the top of the intersection light poles, are for traffic detection. other cameras, not necessarily at an intersection are for traffic surveillance. jmkee: there are many video detection systems in use now, but they are not cheaper, nor do they require less maintenance than a properly installed loop. Also, in areas of bad weather, such as northern climes, they are much less reliable than inductance loops. If the loop insallation is doen correctly, they can last indefinitely without undue roadway damage, especially if they are installed in pvc when the roadway is built. The detectors that are in use today are more than sensitive enough to pick up bikes and motorcycles, but if the sensitivity is set too high, it will result in false calling, so it is a balancing act to get them set up to detect both cars and bicycles.

GiuseppinaOmega

@Kharnellius: also always wondered. I thought they were sensors on the cross pole that detected big objects.

don't laugh. it could be done. maybe, i don't know what i'm talking about.

dontforget

@wezelboy: So was the cop that gave you the ticket on foot or another bike?

TideGuy

@m4ximusprim3:
That depends on where you live. The last place I lived, yeah, traffic was light, and they didn't enforce regular traffic laws for bike traffic (but they did have city ordnances against riding on the sidewalks, which I did have at least two idiot drivers tell me I should be doing anyways). Where I live now...well, you're only moderately safe in a car. Pulling that stunt on a bike equals certain death. Unless it's late at night (when it's not generally smart to be biking on major roads in the first place), there's pretty much a non-stop stream of traffic from the moment the light turns green to 2-3 cars after it's turned red. And by the time those stragglers clear out, cross-traffic is already halfway through the intersection.

Purple Dave

@jwardell: It's actually much safer to take the lane at an intersection if there are no designated bike lanes. It ensures that drivers in your lane are aware of your presence and clearly marks your turn in the queue.

PerspectiveX

@bpapa9013: Oh absolutely. Just wanted to counter what was written in the Giz copy that made it sound like these let you blow through intersections.

PerspectiveX

Every time a car takes down some dipshit cyclist who ran a light, baby Darwin smiles.

StutiCebriones

@Gillonde: Also in Zwolle (town in Netherlands) we have special bike sensor loops in the asphalt for the bikes. works like a charm.
you americans are not very bike-friendly with road and city design

zyberteq

@Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine: You don't get it, some traffic light NEVER change to green unless they detect a large metal object (i.e. car) waiting.

And since bikes aren't large enough to trip the sensor you would have had to wait ages until a car came by just to get a green light (unless you had this device obviously).

TheLostVikings

I have a similar gizmo on the bottom of my Vespa. It works, except for one intersection where I don't think an armored truck would have enough inductive mass to make the light change.

infmom

@Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine:
This device featured here? Well, it's perfectly legal.

A traffic signal preemption hack on the other hand? Totally illegal.

DisposableInterloper

@Curves: Now that is understandable...I've been on the other side of that coin though. Crossing with the light, after waiting for the green and the little white "go ahead and cross" figure, only to get a honk and a middle finger from a guy making a right turn while looking left. The problem with having the right-of-way, is that is doesn't help me if I'm dead. I'm glad he eventually saw me.

PlaneParts

@UofITom: What's the matter with you?

PlaneParts

@bpapa9013: In Minneapolis, the law is to yield to bicycles and pedestrians. Of course it also states that bicycles have to follow car rules. Except for the ones about driving on bicycle paths. Gets confusing sometimes.

Ben Zvan