Red lights That Don't Trip Properly

Message

Kaiser Soze · #11 Post by **Kaiser Soze** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:58 am

So, are you making good money selling these things or what?

CNF2002 · #12 Post by **CNF2002** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:24 am

As someone said, the light isn't malfunctioning or out. Its working as it was designed. It was not designed for bikes in mind (off-hand, doesn't this seem like a blumbering oversight?). Your only legal choice is to change lanes and make a legal right turn. I think the wait period for staying at a light before you can proceed through it is ridiculously long, 15 minutes?

hound · #13 Post by **hound** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:33 am

They just past a law here in WI that if you are not heavey enough to make the light change you can proceed thru the red light. One madision sen. said that we should get off or bikes and push them across. He must have never pushed a a bike before.

scan · #14 Post by **scan** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:43 am

I set them off most of the time, but had one this weekend where I wanted to go staight, but the sensor wouldn't go off. 3 bikes pulled up behind me and the light would not change. I turned to them and said "I'm going to right turn (there was a right turn lane next to us) and turn around and make the next right". They pulled up and watched me go up the road, pull in a lot, come back and make my right. As I rode up the hill I saw the light change and they did not get the green again. I did see a police car down the road facing us. I wondered if those guys ran it after a few times and got busted. I will say if they write a biker a ticket for this offense, it is totally bogus.

And I do think this is a defect. If the device is not effective for motorcycles then it is defective for its intended purpose. It may be working fine for the guys who designed it, but it is not working for its over-all purpose, which is to trigger for road legal vehicles that might need to turn. I understand it may have been created without all bike parameters in mind, but that means it does not meet the needs of what can legal use the road. That is a defect.

#15 Post by **Big B** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:56 am

i used to have a problem setting them off (started a thread about it a month or so ago) now i set them off all of the time, i have to pull the bike ahead farther than normal (front tire just past the white line), but it works

celestial · #16 Post by **celestial** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:14 am

Kaiser Soze wrote:So, are you making good money selling these things or what?

Man, I wish I had thought of this idea. Not making any money, just spending it. Thought I'd try to be helpful and share my experiences. I'd rather be riding than waiting at a red... A couple Bike websites reviewed these and said that you can use regular (strong) magnets, but they could chip the paint where they are attached if you don't mount them properly. Walgreens was selling earth magnets as toys for $4 and they worked fine also, but I was scared of chipping the paint and rusting the frame.

Andrew · #17 Post by **Andrew** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:23 am

There's always the option of buying one of the strobe devices that will set off the green light before you even get to the intersection. It's illegal as hell, but if it's that important to you, it could be effective if you use it sparingly.

MrShake · #18 Post by **MrShake** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:26 am

I think the flaw in this logic still stands at what is defined as "defictive"

I don't believe that just because you think its defective, that it meets the requirement. I would imagine defective is only limited to blatant malfunction, such as flashing red lights, all lights on, lights totally off, etc, etc, etc, not "I had to wait 3 minutes and my bike didn't set it off"

Also be aware that the lights are not as long as you percieve. 30 seconds is a lot longer than you think.

scan · #19 Post by **scan** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:39 am

MrShake wrote:I think the flaw in this logic still stands at what is defined as "defictive"

It is not truly a defective light or mechanism, I agree. It is working as it was designed. It was a flawed design for its intended purpose. But there was a defect in the design process if they did not consider all the users of the road. So this is a deficiency in the product, not a fault of the signal designer or the switch designer. BUT, the root of the word deficiency is the word defect. The defect is there, but its root is not in how it is working, but in how it was designed. Not the fault of the designers themselves, but a defect in the consideration of its need to detect smaller magnetic signatures. Traffic management provided defective parameters for its vehicle detection rules.

Andrew · #20 Post by **Andrew** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:00 am

Somehow I doubt a judge would be as concerned about the semantics involved. Any have experience with getting a ticket on this?