Bike Forums - View Single Post - Rolling stops through red lights in the city

08-29-15 | 06:34 PM

#27

cyccommute

Mad bike riding scientist

Joined: Nov 2004

Posts: 29,152

Likes: 6,209

From: Denver, CO

Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShortLegCyclist

It might be that not all trigger systems are the same.

I'm motorcycle licensed, and at the certification course the instructors told us that even a motorcycle can fail to trigger the light, despite positioning the wheels right over the outline.

Maybe the sensitivity of the system can be tuned? After all, you wouldn't want a raccoon dragging a hubcap to be able to trip the signal.

If they are an induction they all work the same way. Sensitivity can be adjusted but I've not found one that I couldn't trip with a bicycle anywhere in the US if I can see the loop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShortLegCyclist

This link does make it sound like the legality of going through the light is a new thing for Washington, though, maybe it's just poor research on the part of the journalist.

Governor Inslee signs the ?Dead Red? bill into law | Seattle Bike Blog

You have to have some way of getting around a light that isn't working or else you'd be stuck at a light until someone came to fix it. I haven't read their entire vehicle code or perhaps Washington State decided that they needed to spell it out better but I doubt that you had to sit at a light forever previously.

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