Signals That Work ... Sometimes

When vehicles first appeared on the streets, there were no traffic lights, traffic cops or any other form of intersection management. Horse-drawn carriages didn't need control since they moved fairly slow and horses rarely had leg-bender type accidents. Of course as vehicles became more prevalent, traffic cops were used standing at the busier intersections and managing the traffic flow. Traffic signals began being used in 1908 and by the 1930's, many were fully automated.

Throughout the rest of the twentieth century most intersections had traffic lights that were timed. Those timed signals have given way to much more sophisticated signals that change based on traffic flow. You can see where the sensors are buried under the asphalt by the tell-tale octagonal cuts. Under these pads are sensors that tell the signal if a vehicle is parked over it. Usually there are multiple sensors so the signal can actually tell how many vehicles are backed up waiting for the light to change. You can easily see how this technology can easily and effectively control traffic.......other than motorcycles, that is.

Motorcycles are too small for most of these sensors to trip the signal. That usually means that a motorcyclist either has to wait for a car to pull up behind him for the light to change, or he has to run the light that will never change. I have found some good advice for this problem from people that work with these systems every day. If you park your motorcycle over the sensor patch on either the left side or the right side, there is a better chance for your bike to be "detected" by the sensor and therefore change the light. Directly over the center of the sensor is actually the weakest signal point of the loop. By using the sensor loop to your advantage, you need never sit forever at a traffic light again.

Oh by the way, my recommendation is to be on the left side of the loop. That puts you in a position more visible to the cross-traffic.