Traffic Light Question For Motorcycles

[greybeard]

Lights used to be triggered by a beam on the post on the corner, then they improved it

[wyliec]

most of todays traffic lights are SMART LIGHTS.... they read what's in front of them, and a SPYD3R is not enough mass for the lights to register you are there... however, these SMART LIGHTS also look for 'LIGHTS'... I found that flashing my BRIGHTS will trigger the SMART LIGHTS to acknowledge my presents...
Dan P
SPYD3R

I'm going to give this a shot. Like I said in my previous post, there is one light in particular that I can't get past, except with a right turn. Of course, I'll have to do this with no one behind that may activate the light changing.

[Firefly]

I'm going to give this a shot. Like I said in my previous post, there is one light in particular that I can't get past, except with a right turn. Of course, I'll have to do this with no one behind that may activate the light changing.

If you see the wires buried in the pavement... they're pretty obvious... then lights won't help.. nor will jumping up and down as someone mentioned. There simply isn't enough metal to trip the sensor. The magnets can help, but are not 100% effective. I have one that I have to go through quite often and if there's not a car in front of me then I won't try and take the turn.. will go straight and cut through a gas station after the intersection instead.

[gkamer]

There are plates in the pavement which are activated by the weight of the vehicle to control the lights. Sometimes a motorcycle is not heavy enough to activate the plate. Here in Washington, a while back, they passed a law that allows motorcycles to treat a red turn arrow like a stop sign after one full cycle of the traffic lights.

[billybovine]

I'm going to give this a shot. Like I said in my previous post, there is one light in particular that I can't get past, except with a right turn. Of course, I'll have to do this with no one behind that may activate the light changing.

A couple years ago called the public works dept. in a local city, responsible for maintaining a problem traffic light. A couple days later they called me back a said the sensitivity was adjusted and to let them know if it solved the problem. It seems to work fine ever since.

[Easy Rider]

There are plates in the pavement which are activated by the weight of the vehicle to control the lights.

That technology is VERY old and probably doesn't exist much anymore.
Most use magnetic sensor wires cut into the pavement.
Some use video detectors.

AND....in all jurisdictions, it is legal to proceed carefully WHEN THE TRAFFIC SIGNALS ARE MALFUNCTIONING.
Not cycling in response to a sensor failing is a malfunction. The recent laws just make that a bit clearer.

[Firefly]

The weight based ones haven't been around for a long time now.