Traffic Lights

[Gordon B]

My route to work involves me stopping at a set of lights on a b-road which crosses the main A19 Selby to Doncaster road.

Always at red when I get there. I sit for 5 minutes. Lights change to let pedestrians across, then the main lights change again. I'm still sitting on red.

Then a car approaches behind me, lo and behold the lights change.

What gives?:confused:

[the_lone_wolf]

induction loops in the road detect large lumps of metal like cars and change the signal pattern accordinly, bikes aren't big enough to set them off

[Baph]

Pressure sensitive I reckon.

Is there a cross pattern of tar banding on the floor? If so, jump up & down on the pegs on approach to the solid white line, as under these lines there's a pressure sensor.

Cars are heavy enough to kick the sensor in, bikes often aren't :(

There's a set of lights like this near me.

There's another trick that usually works. Creep slowly across the tar banding, less than 10mph. By the time you get to the lights, they've changed, and quicker than you waiting 10mins.

EDIT: There is another way, but its slightly naughty & takes a little faffing to get right. Flash your headlights at just the right frequency.:smt039

EDIT2: I figured they were pressure sensative matts (since that'd be a reasonably cheap way to do things), but induction loops would work equally.

[Gordon B]

A bit of an oversight surely?

Is there anyone I can complain to?

What happens if no other vehicle turns up? I'm stuck.

Never had this happen to me before. Is is possible that the equipment is shoost or set up incorrectly?

[the_lone_wolf]

What happens if no other vehicle turns up? I'm stuck.

Never had this happen to me before. Is is possible that the equipment is shoost or set up incorrectly?
try riding lengthways over one of the induction wires (along the overbanding on the surface of the road) - that way you will create the largest possible emf in the loop and are most likely to trigger the lights:cool:

edit: if that doesn't work contact your local council's highways dept and ask them to turn up the sensitivity a bit

[the_lone_wolf]

EDIT: There is another way, but its slightly naughty & takes a little faffing to get right. Flash your headlights at just the right frequency.:smt039

doesn't work for induction loops, or traffic lights with sensors either

the IR detectors on the top of temporary lights are they to receive a signal from a specially designed transmitter in emergency service vehicles and give them priority when approaching, nothing to do with the frequency of the flashing lights...

[Baph]

doesn't work for induction loops, or traffic lights with sensors either

the IR detectors on the top of temporary lights are they to receive a signal from emergency service vehicles and give them priority when approaching...

That's the reason I said "just the right frequency." Pulsing the lights has at least appeared to generate the desired results on many static lights for me. Both in the car and on the bike. :)

[Binky]

What happens if no other vehicle turns up? I'm stuck.



This happened to me once at about one in the morning on the way home from work. A busy set of lights went red, and as i waited patiently for my lights to turn green nothing. They stayed red and then the other lights turned back to green again. After being a bit puzzled / laughing a bit i thought sod it and krept forward and then just went when there were no cars.

I'm not suggesting that this is an approach you take on your way to work as in my case it was in the wee hours of the morning.

[Seggons]

Just do a nice controlled stoppie on the front wheel to make sure the pressure switch is activated. Failing that, make sure the rear wheel comes thundering down so the switch thinks a tanks just moved onto it. :D

[the_lone_wolf]

That's the reason I said "just the right frequency." Pulsing the lights has at least appeared to generate the desired results on many static lights for me. Both in the car and on the bike. :)

see edited post... frequency makes no difference, it's an IR transmitter that's fitted to emergency vehicles that transmits an encoded signal to change the lights, nothing to do with visible light at all

the reason people think flashing their lights works is just misperception of a chance event, your subconcious over-represents the times flashing your lights "worked" by fluke and under-represents the times it didn't when forming an opinion of whether flashing your lights works or not

[the_lone_wolf]

The Opticom Infrared System uses coded infrared emitters mounted on your emergency and/or transit vehicles to communicate with the intersection traffic controller to provide a temporary right-of-way for your vehicles. Proven effective at thousands of intersections throughout the world, the Opticom infrared system can dramatically improve safety at intersections while minimizing traffic disruptions, accelerating response times and improving service reliability.http://www.gtt.com/Products/Opticom-IR

[Baph]

see edited post... frequency makes no difference, it's an IR transmitter that's fitted to emergency vehicles that transmits an encoded signal to change the lights, nothing to do with visible light at all

the reason people think flashing their lights works is just misperception of a chance event, your subconcious over-represents the times flashing your lights "worked" by fluke and under-represents the times it didn't when forming an opinion of whether flashing your lights works or not

You obviously didn't read my post properly. :rolleyes: I saw your edited post, and replied with the below.

That's the reason I said "just the right frequency." Pulsing the lights has at least appeared to generate the desired results on many static lights for me. Both in the car and on the bike. :)

Note the "appeared to generate the desired results" part. ;)

My basic aim, was that if folks believe it works, they're less frustrated.

Besides that, I'm sure I'm not the only person to of fitted UV lighting to their bike (I know SoulKiss was considering it, but don't know if he ever did). IR isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

Whilst on that subject, since bulbs have a "warm up" phase, you probably get a fair amount of IR light from an incandesant bulb (never tested the theory though) when going from 0V to putting current through the filament (I know you certainly won't go from nothing immediately to visible light). The "coded" part however would be more difficult on a headlight, as the IR range wouldn't respond anywhere near quick enough.

FWIW, yes, I'm in the office, and I'm bored again. :rolleyes:

[the_lone_wolf]

:rolleyes:

[Gordon B]

Boys. Get a room.

My question has been answered.:D

[Davido]

Nerd alert. NERD ALERT!

[Red Herring]

http://www.gtt.com/Products/Opticom-IR

But not in the UK as far as I am aware......

[Dangerous Dave]

But not in the UK as far as I am aware......
Correct, we do not have that in the UK. For a start we do not have a intersection traffic controller.