How do you deal with stoplights?

[ohdaho]

So this has happened to me twice now. Turn signals at a stoplight wont trigger.

Several stop lights are triggered via a sensor, I presume to be weight sensor placed in the pavement. Apparently the gross weight of my bike and myself is not enough to trigger the turn signal. Ever happen to yall? How do you cope with this?

[Likwid]

pull forward then back up..... turn right then make a u turn.... turn against the malfunctioning light and report it

[bigbluebird]

they are magnetic move your engine over the lines that make a square in the road at the intersection not sit in the middle. i have found this to work

[chevysoldier]

I don't think they are weight sensors, normally. My understanding is the metal from a car disrupts the electrical signal through the wire in the ground. Your bike doesn't have enough metal to disrupt it. Try putting your kickstand directly on the crack in the pavement where the wire runs. I have heard that can work, never tried it though. Then tell the city/county or whoever to raise the sensitivity to register motorcycles.

[f4isvt]

stopping directly on the edge of the square has always worked for me

[ohdaho]

Learn new things everyday.

[chevysoldier]

stopping directly on the edge of the square has always worked for me

Yeah, I always put my front tire right in the front left corner of the box.

[hue jass]

they are magnetic move your engine over the lines that make a square in the road at the intersection not sit in the middle. i have found this to work

Also, in a turn lane, look for this 'square' to be placed on the pavement back where the second car in traffic would sit. Planners, many times, don't think that just one car waiting to turn warrants an arrow.

[Radio Flyer]

It's normally 2-3 cars back and from what I've experienced I just run it if the coast is clear if I've had to wait more than twice (Normally at night). I've only had trouble with this a few times during the day and I just wait for a car to pull up behind me. The wait sucks but I don't want to be road kill.

[MadMadame]

It depends on the light. Does OH not have a "rule" where, if the light does not change after X amount of time, you can "legally" run it as long as there is no traffic? SC did, and there was a light in GA on the way home from work I had to run a couple times.

[Bluezx6r]

This happens to me all the time..... Broad street and Galloway Rd are horrible for that..so is Tuttle Crossing.

[MidgetTodd]

Iron pony sells green light triggers, they're a high power magnet that mounts on the bottom of your bike to trigger the sensor.

[cattmouch33]

You could always put the stand down, get off the bike and go press the crosswalk signal. Works for me.

[bandit12]

I had a light that wouldn't trip a few blocks from home and one night the police were sitting in a parking lot nearby. I honked my horn to get his attention and sat there for well over a minute, enough time for it to change twice and then drove thru it. I stopped and told him that it never works for bikes and he said he would call ODOT, he also said that if I sit there for a resonable amount of time and it don't change to carefully go on thru. About two weeks later I seen ODOT working on the light and it still don't work.

[SWing'R]

Iron pony sells green light triggers, they're a high power magnet that mounts on the bottom of your bike to trigger the sensor.

I had one of these mounted on the bottom of my wifes old scooter,

not sure if it really made a difference or not.

[NinjaNick]

If you're sitting forever and nobody sees I run it.

[jermattak]

Same, I'll run it after a couple minutes,

[4DAIVI PAI2K5]

You could always put the stand down, get off the bike and go press the crosswalk signal. Works for me.

lol that would be awesome to witness.

[JaysonL]

I just had this happen while waiting TWELVE minutes at Harvard and Richmond to get onto 271....

Eventually I just rode into the through lane and went around, I figured it wasn't worth the risk of running.

[MarkB]

I have one of those green light magnets... works like a charm

[conn-e-rot]

I have the green light trigger on my bike it helps with all the lights in my area except one. I think the problem with the one is the box is right at the corner and I am not going fast enough when crossing the lines. The instructions said to try to cross the lines at 10-15mph

[Cheech]

I'll wait for a cycle or two then run it. If cars are behind me, I'll give a "come here" motion to get closer to me so they can trip the front sensor. About 1 in 4 have enough mental capacity to understand this gesture.

[Tonik]

As several have said, after a reasonable amount of time you can run them. Then what you do is report them. I reported the one at the end of my street to my city and got a bunch of BS. Then I saw the article below and reported it to the State.

It got fixed REAL fast after I did that, by the city. I later learned that the State calls the city and says "You have a malfunctioning traffic light that is in violation of State Law, would you like to fix it or would you like us to fix it and send you the bill"

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/DISTRICTS/D10/NEWSRELEASES/Pages/TrafficSignalsIncreaseSafetyforMotorcyclesandScooters.aspx

[natedogg624]

treat it as a four way stop.

[jporter12]

I'm liking how some of the newer lights have "cameras" to detect the vehicles. We have several out here and I have had no problems with triggering them.

From my understandng, these are just "object recognition" devices, and have no way of recording an image of your vehicle. From what I've read, the initial cost is more, but they avoid the need to re-install the wires in the road after a repave for the magnetic trip systems.