Tripping the light. Fantastic! (Comments: 5)

I mentioned my friend Richard DeSarra recently. He’s a jazzhead like me and also the VP of the Rochester Bicycling Club. Richard sent me this interesting tip on the bane of the cycle commuter — the traffic signal that doesn’t know you’re there.

Beating the road loop
By Richard Desarra, Rochester Bicycling Club

I recently inquired to the NYS DOT regarding road sensors (loops) not picking up cyclists thereby not activating the signal system to change the light to green. Many times we have to wait for a motorized vehicle to ride onto the sensor area of the roadway to activate the system or slowly ride through the intersection when all is clear.

Here is what a traffic engineer from the Traffic Operations Division had to say:

“From personal experience, if a bicyclist leans his bike down to make it more of a horizontal plane rather than the vertical plane that it is, the detectors will usually pick up the bike. The detectors do not detect mass or magnetic field but inductance field. The field is interrupted by an area of metal. The frame of a bike works very well to serve this uprpose. This may seem a little unconventional but I’ve found it usually works.” (Too bad, this won’t work for our all carbon bicycle buddies.)

I am not sure what motorists or other cyclists would say if they saw you dismounting and laying your bicycle on the road to activate the system. Good for a laugh.

The dreaded “road loop”

Just drop your frame over the loop…

…and away you go!

Look for more from Richard in the days and weeks ahead. And thanks to the RBC’s Dale Van Ocker for sending along the text and photos.

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