Red light dillemma

[wolverine]

I'm hoping some of the smart engineering folks will be able to help me out. I ride a bike to and from work, and have just started riding again after these last two months of freezing temps.

I've long encountered a problem on my commute - demand actuated signaling. I guess I'm not metallic or big enough to trip the induction loops.

Most of bike routes are modernized to pick up all sorts of vehicles including skateboards, but the major avenues have the old school dipole configurations in turn lanes. And none of my convenient routes home are modernized.

As a result I have to make very dangerous left hand turn across boulevards on a red arrow, but with green thru.

Now before anyone calls me a lawbreaker, I'm not. The state of Illinois permits any bicyclist or motorcyclist to treat a left turn red as a yield if they have reason to believe the light arrow won't change to green. But that doesn't mean it's safe so I'm wondering if there's a solution.

Ive heard magnets will activate the loops, But any sort of strong magnet affixed is out of the question. The roads are double decked with a ton of steel expansion joints, plus I cross a bridge with metal grating.

Is there something metal I can attach?

[Meddle]

Is there something metal I can attach?

Yeah. A car.

[wolverine]

Yeah. A car.

Lol, this problem is nothing to owning a car in the city. Been there done that. Renting one is so much easier.

Anyway called the city today, and they've gotten other complaints. Loops will be ripped out and replaced in warmer temps with the light set in normal cycle in the meantime . So I guess I can hold off considering it's snowing again.

[old guy]

Wow wolverine, I'm kind of lost in the technology of what you're talking about. I guess I feel kind of like an, uh,... old guy.

[wolverine]

Wow wolverine, I'm kind of lost in the technology of what you're talking about. I guess I feel kind of like an, uh,... old guy.

No problem. What I'm talking about is pretty much invisible on the road. Next time your driving, take a look at some intersections and you might notice some very geometrical sawcuts in the pavement. There's wires buried just beneath the surface that detect the metal in a car triggering a stop light to change. Instead of traffic signals giving green lights to where there are no cars, they can change only when a vehicle approaches. Problem is not all systems are designed equal. At times of installation, traffic engineers may have not thought of bicyclists and the systems aren't sensitive enough to detect smaller vehicles. Or in places like Royal Oak for example, they have special induction loops for bicyclists so lights will change.

I know there's some tricks to get the signals to trip reliably but wasn't sure if anyone has done it.

[old guy]

Okay, I have two intersections near my house that work really well when I pull up to the intersection. If traffic is light on the main street, I get an automatic green light. Never realized how it works although I've always looked for what activated it. Always assumed it was an overhead function. Interesting, I'll look at the pavement. Generally if it isn't triggered automatically I move forward about a foot or so. I drive an extremely compact car, but it seems to work.

[old guy]

P.S. I'm extremely happy with this function. Before they installed it I spent a lot of time sitting at these traffic lights.