Originally Posted by madpogue
None of the sensors here can be tripped by anything less than the amount of steel found on a motorcycle or car. They are, in effect, malfunctioning when approached by any other type of vehicle. Our main street is under reconstruction, and for the duration, the signals have been put on a regular cycle, and taken off the sensors. I hope to rally my neighbors to get the lights to be left this way when the construction is done. Except for the fact that it's torn up by the construction, it's much easier/safer to cross with regularly-cycling lights.
Since bicycles are vehicles by law, then the same law implies that traffic sensors must detect all legal vehicles, which includes bicycles. Call the agency responsible for the light, report the light as not working properly. The sensitivity of these things can be set. There was the very same problem around here, until local cyclists started calling in on regular basis, reporting bad lights. Now the sensors will pick up a single cyclist, provided he gets over the wire in the pavement.
Use the law, don't fight it.