Fifty Plus (50+) - What were they thinking?

Bikes are small critters and often don't trigger the traffic light sensors at intersections leaving the poor cyclist facing a red light with no traffic in the intersection. To get around this, many major intersections provide a button for the cyclist to hit, just like the button used to activate the pedestrian crossing - it even has a cute little push bike symbol on it.

A lot of pedestrian crossings have been set up to help the blind - that button makes different noises depending on what part of the cycle it's in.

I pulled up at an intersection recently, and the 'cyclist' button, complete with dinky little push bike symbol, was one of the noisy 'blind' buttons. :D

Mind you, the way some people ride their bikes, you could be forgiven for imagining that many cyclists are blind.

Richard

I've never heard of anything like this. Are you saying that the button is somehow in the road? That would be very cool. Do you have any pictures?

I've never heard of anything like this. Are you saying that the button is somehow in the road? That would be very cool. Do you have any pictures?

You mean we've got something you lot haven't? :eek:

It's just a big button on a post. Same as you get for pedestrian crossings only in this case, it's labelled with a push bike and when you press the button, the traffic lights turn green for you. It's designed to get around the problem of push bikes not triggering the sensors in the road.

Richard

A new traffic light sensor near my home now triggers perfectly... it has some sort of video detector, and it triggers so well, I get green lights just as I approach the stop lines.

It is great.

Sort of bring up the question of "Why is there Braille on the drive up ATM machines."

However, it's not news to most cyclists that many drivers are blind.

Sort of bring up the question of "Why is there Braille on the drive up ATM machines."

Why manufacture and stock two separate sets of parts?

Once you have the tooling to make the first one, the subsequent parts are very cheap to manufacture. If you're buying small replacement parts most of what you pay is inventory and distribution rather than the part itself. Making all of the buttons braille probably reduces the cost of replacement parts by almost half.

We have those buttons on posts in SoCal, but sans the cute little bike logo. They work well and are easy to reach without having to go up on the sidewalk (like you have to do with the ped buttons).

Side note, kinda O.T. it's interesting that the British and Australians refer to bicycles as "push bikes" rather than bicycles. As I understand it, this "push" makes them separate from "motor bikes" but I wonder why "push" instead of pedal, or simply "bicycle" as used in the U.S.? Maybe because motor bikes have brake pedals?

Rick / OCRR

RE;push versus pedal, I believe if one looks up the history of bicycling you would find illustrations of various bicycle styled contraptions that were walked and or pushed.The Brits were just to lazy to change the nomiculture of the device so ergo "push bike".The Aussies just follwed suit not knowing any better.












:D :lol:

RE;push versus pedal, I believe if one looks up the history of bicycling you would find illustrations of various bicycle styled contraptions that were walked and or pushed.The Brits were just to lazy to change the nomiculture of the device so ergo "push bike".The Aussies just follwed suit not knowing any better.

Yes, we must find a way to force the brits to abandon this obsolete colloquialism. ;) The term push-bike should be applied to draisiennes only.

It actually makes a bit of sense to me. If I pull up to an intersection I might not immediately see the push button, but the annoying sound will enhance the possibility of finding it sooner than later. But in terms of what they were thinining, I don't have any idea.

US Congress must have designed it.

US Congress must have designed it.

Huh. I was thinking that this must have been a DOD project.

You mean we've got something you lot haven't? :eek:

It's just a big button on a post. Same as you get for pedestrian crossings only in this case, it's labelled with a push bike and when you press the button, the traffic lights turn green for you. It's designed to get around the problem of push bikes not triggering the sensors in the road.

Richard

I have never seen anything like that in central FL. The sensors often do not pick up bikes. So it is wait for a car to trigger the light. Or you can go over and hit the pedestrian steet crossing button (which usually does not exist). Or you can wait for the traffic to clear and go.

Even if the light goes green, someone is going to try to run you over in the middle of the intersection.

Sort of bring up the question of "Why is there Braille on the drive up ATM machines."



Why manufacture and stock two separate sets of parts?

Once you have the tooling to make the first one, the subsequent parts are very cheap to manufacture. If you're buying small replacement parts most of what you pay is inventory and distribution rather than the part itself. Making all of the buttons braille probably reduces the cost of replacement parts by almost half.


My comment was kind of "tongue in Cheek".

Of course I understand "standardized parts".

[QUOTE=Ed in GA;8550976]Sort of bring up the question of "Why is there Braille on the drive up ATM machines."

Or locks on 24 Hour Stores?

[QUOTE=Ed in GA;8550976]Sort of bring up the question of "Why is there Braille on the drive up ATM machines."

Or locks on 24 Hour Stores?


That too!

:)

Or locks on 24 Hour Stores?

I remember the story from a waitress at one of two 24 hour/7 day a week diner in a nearby town. The other diner was a chain, and for the first time ever, the whole chain was going to close for Christmas. It ended up costing them several days profits to come in and add locks to all the diners. And then some number managed to lose the key before the following Christmas, and they had to do it again.

(The waitress also confessed that she loved working Christmas, as everyone was in a happy mood. New Years day however, with the hung over patrons was an entirely different story. )

If I can't get to the button from my position in the traffic lane, I ain't gonna use it. True story from a few years ago:

I went to the City's traffic engineer and complained, "the light at 'x' and 'y' doesn't trip for my bike. Yesterday I waited through two cycles of the light a block down, then finally had to treat the light as a 4-way stop."

Traffic engineer said, "just press the pedestrian button."

I responded, "that would mean taking my 750cc motorcycle onto the sidewalk." (The intersection in question had a school and a daycare center on opposite corners.)

Sensor was fixed the next day, and thereafter it worked for my bicycle too. :)