Description
When I am on my motorcycle, the light at Gick Road and Route 50 will not change unless a car comes up behind me. The lanes I have regularly observed this are:
Gick Rd, Veterans Way, Highway 50 Northbound left turn lane.
Now that I go to work very early in the morning, I have to routinely run the light when traffic is clear. Flashing my high beams does not trip it for my lane.
My bike and I weigh over 800lbs.
5 Comments
user (Registered User)
The problem is the loop detectors in the road. They are usually in a circle, around the edges of the lane, hence the name "loop detector", so try riding very close to the edge of the lane on the inside. Also, make sure you enter the turn lane right where it starts and ride the edge, as the detectors are often 2 hit detectors, requiring you to hit both the detector in the back, and in the front of the lane to trigger the light.
The solution to this problem is to put up radar sensors on the light post. Many people mistake these for cameras, but they are actually the same tech used at supermarket entrances, they sense motion.
I would contact NYDOT as the roads are theirs, not the county's. Start with NYDOT and then go to Saratoga County Highway Dept for any roads DOT does not own.
The flipping of headlights on works on signals that have a MIRT, and they have gone to encrypting those, because people learned the trick, but I don't know of any lights that even use that tech in the capital district.
Hope this helps.
Fasterpill (Registered User)
user (Registered User)
Fasterpill (Registered User)
I received another informative communication from NYSDOT today:
Thank you for contacting the Department of Transportation via our website.
Generally, traffic signals have vehicle detectors embedded in the pavement of turn lanes to sense when vehicles are in the lane. These detectors are typically cut into the pavement in the shape of a long rectangle. Low voltage wires are placed into the pavement cut and "looped" around several times, including in a cut through the center that bisects the rectangle. A liquid sealer is then placed on top of the wire in the cut, which sometimes is visible on the pavement surface.
Electricity is run through the wire and when a vehicle drives over the loop detector, the ferrous metal in the vehicle causes an electric disturbance that triggers the signal controller to display a green signal. The center cut of this long loop style detector has the most number of wires in it and therefore is the most sensitive location of the detector. This center location is where you should position your motorcycle in order to activate the detector. Due to most modern motorcycles being manufactured with decreasing amounts of ferrous metal (aluminum is non-ferrous), the signal detector loops have difficulty with motorcycles.
After reading your comment, I will send our Traffic Signal Maintenance Crew to the intersection later this afternoon and ask them to "tune" the detector by increasing the detector sensitivity to the highest level without picking up the adjacent through lane. They will also install a newer version of loop detector hardware in the signal cabinet in an attempt to remedy your situation.
Neither headlights nor weight are factors in vehicle detection for traffic signals.
Closed Fasterpill (Registered User)
Kudos to the NYSDOT on this one.