Cycling & traffic lights..?

[Two-Wheels]

Never really thought about this until yesterday so I'm going to go ahead & ask what is going to sound like a dumb question.

A month or so ago I was out in an area I don't usually cycle in & I came up on some temp lights on a quiet road. I'm waiting ... waiting ... waiting & nothing is happening. Nothing is coming my way & nobody is behind me. Just when I thought ok we're taking the piddle a bit here, I'm going to go ... a car came behind me & the lights changed to green. Bit weird I thought. Never had anything like it before or since, until yesterday.

I was out fairly early - 6am, just getting a short ride in before work. I come to a set of lights which joins on to an A road. Traffic on the A road is flowing, they turn to red & then the lights to turn up my way go to green and then red. It should now be my turn to go ... except it doesn't happen. The main A road turns to green and stays green for a loooooooooooooooooong time.

Now I drive this road daily & where I'm now sat waiting on my bike - I've come out of this junction in a car plenty times before and what happened to me on the bike yesterday 1) never happens and 2) nobody is sat waiting THAT long for the lights to turn.

So after this long time I wait some more ... and more ... and then give up, see that traffic is not coming from the right and way way off in the distance to the left so I say sod it & go anyway even though my lights are still red.

Which brings the question - do lights need cars (or basically things bigger than a person on a bike) to trigger them?

I don't know whether some/all are pressure sensored in the road or what. I had a look at the tops of the traffic lights to see if there were any sensors on the top & there weren't. It was just unusual, in that it never happens like it did yesterday & I'd bet every penny I have that if I was in a car then immediately after the traffic turned right to come up my way then the next green light would've been for me to go and not the A road again.

* I don't really find myself in these situations as 1) I tend to stick to back roads on the bike and 2) while I head out early, by the time I'm on A-roads there's usually cars on there anyway. Yesterday coupled with the temporary lights the other month just made me wonder.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Sensors and induction loops.

https://www.automatesystems.co.uk/how-traffic-light-sensors-work/

 

[oldwheels]

On one short stretch here where it is single lane and temporary “permanent” lights you cannot see the other end it seems to be a combination of camera and timer. Sometimes you will trigger the change on approach but under different circumstances there can be a long wait.
It does seem to detect cyclists but in the past I just ignored the lights and went anyway unless there were cars already waiting.

 

[mr_cellophane]

I've had that twice.
First time with a large group, The other lights change several times, but not ours. When we has realised why, we had to plan how to get enough of us out of the way to get a car come up with out splitting the group.
Second time I was on my own and no car behind. I had just decided to just go, when a car turns up behind me. I then had a job persuading the driver to move up. he didn't seem to grasp the situation.

 

[Andy in Germany]

We have two kinds of sensor; in the road, where there are lines of what looks like tar either straight or diagonal, and on the traffic light which look like a little camera. I find if I have my wheel and/or foot on a line it seems to trigger the lights but this may just be circumstantial. With the cameras, being directly in front of the camera seems to trigger it.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

They are defective if they do that, and proceed through the red.

 

[HLaB]

Traffic lights will either have an induction loop/s (which tend to be a rectangular or diamond shape visible by the black resin in fill), and/or radar sensors. You can usually trigger them by riding up to the junction as a car driver would do. However, they are occasionally not sensitive enough for bikes to trigger a light change, in which case you can consider them defective and proceed through red at caution (bear in mind folk with green won't be expecting you). Although it doesn't help you, its worth reporting signals to the highway authority (typically the shire council in England) to help out future cyclists.

 

[PaulSB]

The most recent temporary lights have a sensor above the red light. Wave your arm around in front of it. This is very common in Lancashire. As we ride towards such lights if they're on red one rider will wave an arm as we approach. It works.

 

[Paulus]

With the sensor type I have found that if you have lights fitted on your bike, aim the front one at the sensor, that often works.
The grids don't often pick up bikes, or when I had motorcycles, them neither.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

A well written explanation from a company that wants to sell you concrete :=)

https://www.totalconcrete.co.uk/news/how-do-traffic-lights-work/

Bye

Ian

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I find that a lot of temporary light work best for cyclists if you park directly in front of the light - rather than at the side of the road where you might normally ride
They often have a camera on the top and if it is not aimed right then it seem to miss cyclists near the kerb
There is a new (well - it has been moved a lot) set of permanent lights leading to the Moore nature Reserve near Warrington where some bushes partially hide cyclists from the camera if you ride near the kerb - I always ride in the centre of the lane and it charges the light just before I get there if the way is clear

Someone said on somewhere else that some strips in the road are not sensitive enough but it can be adjusted if you ask????

 

[Ian H]

Another reason (if you need one) for not riding in the gutter.

 

[Two-Wheels]

Thanks to all for the responses. Also thanks for the tip HLaB, I'll see about chasing that up.

On the day I actually pulled up in the centre of the lane because I was thinking it's pretty quiet & there's no cars behind me. I had the temp light situation in mind so thought I better pull centrally so that I trigger any kind of sensor. Obviously that didn't work.

I've just had a look on Google Maps & I'll have actually stopped in one of these...


PaulSB, that's where I'm at

 

[chrisleuty]

I reckon temporary lights have microphones as me unclipping always makes them turn green.