Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Flak Monkey wrote:Around here if you have a problem tripping a light you can call and a technician will usually be out there the next day to change the sensitivity.

hmm... doesn't that make you really late for appointments?

Most lights trip okay for me by running up on the grooves/cuts in the road. To date I have reported two sensors that needed adjusted as they go by weight, and my little 250cc bike isn't near enough to cause it to trip. I have to rely on a car and usually have to turn my torso around and wave the driver closer so it trips for us both. Georgia DoT is pretty quick to get someone out to change it, and it beats sitting there and possibly getting a ticket for running a red. (They need to implement that law here in GA that allows a motorcyclist to cruise through a red after it's deemed to not respond to the motorcyclist).

Try going to your state's DoT website and see if you can submit the problem.
For GA, you just click on "Contact Us" and select inquiry type as "Traffic Signal" and then I give them the description about the street intersection, direction I'm cruising, and which lane needs adjusted.

Skel3tor1 wrote: To date I have reported two sensors that needed adjusted as they go by weight, and my little 250cc bike isn't near enough to cause it to trip.

Actually most sensors in the road are inductive loops that actually sense a change in the magnetic field they create and as such trip the light...

http://www.greenlightstuff.com/index.html

I have no idea if these work, but it could be worth a try.

If the sensor doesn't work, I run the red. Left turns included. I'm a bad person.

RideYourRide wrote:If the sensor doesn't work, I run the red. Left turns included. I'm a bad person.

ditto here.

I have one thats on my way home from work. I pray that a car is making the same turn and gets in front of me. If not I can just drive further down the road to another turn, it just take me farther away and I need to backtrack. I can't run the red there, cuz of all the traffic at that time. If I happen to be the lucky one to get caught at most sensor lights I move up as much as possible into crosswalk and motion person behind me to follow suit. But if its late and/or I'm alone, screw it, I'm going through.

Lately the lights haven't been much of a problem, but every now and then i'll get unlucky. I've tried to put the kickstand down a few times, but no luck yet. This only happens when I ride at night, so i'm never in a big hurry to get anywhere. But then again, once I've waited long enough I'll end up running the red.

I'm reallly bad.

dr_bar wrote:

Skel3tor1 wrote: To date I have reported two sensors that needed adjusted as they go by weight, and my little 250cc bike isn't near enough to cause it to trip.

Actually most sensors in the road are inductive loops that actually sense a change in the magnetic field they create and as such trip the light...

Yup, thats why running the starter whilst over it generally works... electric motors = magnetic fields agumbo

I haven't had much trouble with lights changing. There is one near my house that won't change for anything less than a dump truck. It's on a side street that I have no reason to go up though. So I avoid it.

What's been getting me lately are those new LED stoplights they are stringing up every few feet. They're so bright that from dusk onwards I simply Can't see through the intersection. I've always had very good night vision. What I don't have, are eyes that can adjust from pitch blackness to noonday levels instantly.

Heres a clue DOT, Shining blindingly bright lights into your motorists eyes, at night, in places where traffic moves at a substantially different rate of speed and direction, And in a wildlife heavy area, may not be the best idea.

I join the school of thought that says in the worst case, you may have to run a light and hope if a cop pulls you over he understand the problem. Sitting through three light changes with no traffic behind me, on a hot day, with a "No Turn on Red" sign, forced me to run a light.

I have on many occasion though, taking the right hand turn (where legal to do on a red) and find a place to turn around. That can be a hassle if you are in the left lane, and have to move over to the right, but if no one is coming anyway, you have nothing to lose changing lanes.

One time I had a guy behind me and I wanted him to pull up to activate the light sensor because my bike was not doing it. We were there for two changes. The guy ignored me and wouldn't pull up, even when I moved into the road and passed the white "stop" line. That was another time I turned right and found a place to turn back around.