Stoplight Sensors

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happo2000

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Not sure if this is the right forum category for this question. But on my daily commute in Toronto, there is one left turn that my Kawasaki Vulcan 800 is unable to trip the stoplight sensor. I've tried many things such as putting the kickstand down, to attaching an earth magnet to the bottom of my bike. But none of these have worked. I've stayed there for up to 3 cycles sometimes before having to blow the no-left on red signal when it's clear/safe to. It even has the 3 white dots painted where a bicycle is supposed to stop to trip it.

I've checked the Toronto website for a number to call to let them know, but have been unable to find one. Anyone had any experiences with getting the city to adjust the sensors? How long did it take? Who did you call?

Thanks.
 
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Is there a pedestrian crossing button? I've had situations where I've had to get off my bike and press that button to trigger the light.
 
xxxx heading east onto xxx North. It would be kinda unsafe and not feasible to do that during rush hour. Plus I think even hitting the pedestrian signal would not cause the left turn signal to change in this situation.
 
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http://www.wikihow.com/Trigger-Green-Traffic-Lights

This might help, i've never used magnets or anything but i use certain positioning when stopped at a light. I have been able to get the light to change for me most times, and other times i've had to readjust my position when ive had a failed attempt

Other times like in residential streets coming to a major street, i just go and push the pedestrian crossing button since i've had an extremely hard time triggering the damn thing.
 
someone on another forum says he hits his starter for a second which does the trick.
 
Magnets etc are snake oil. I just run em if they are defective getting off the bike endangers me unnecessarily and is unreasonable. Call and get them adjusted properly.
 
I have come upon this problem at my underground parade at home. A number of years ago, I read an article about this and here's what it said to do.
The "pressure plate" is really a resistance wire and bikes can get a better chance of tripping it by putting the tire on one of the cuts and riding along it. Works every time for me.


Sent from the void.
 
i called the city to have one in my neighborhood fixed to work with my bike, te guy that called me back also rode, we shot the sh## for a little and came up with a few other traffic lights that we were both getting stuck at. mississauga and Brampton are the same number...not sure if they covered toronto as well.

after it was done he even called me back to see if i could check it to see if they work now.
truthfully, it picks my car up about 50 feet away from the sensor now, its great, the light sometimes changes before i stop lol...for the bike it picks it up when im on the sensor.
 
If I find that I'm stuck at a red too long (ie: 2-3 iterations) I just check it's clear and move forward otherwise I'd be there all day. If there's a car behind me I motion for them to move forward so that they can trip the sensors while I make space.
 
mimico_polak said:
If I find that I'm stuck at a red too long (ie: 2-3 iterations) I just check it's clear and move forward otherwise I'd be there all day. If there's a car behind me I motion for them to move forward so that they can trip the sensors while I make space.
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How does one know how long an iteration is, if the light isn't changing?
 
Baggsy said:
How does one know how long an iteration is, if the light isn't changing?
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There was a court case quite a few years back in Nova Scotia in which a guy ticketed with a running a red argued exactly this. He had waited and the light did not change and so he proceeded to go. The judge agreed that since after a reasonable amount of time the light has not changed the driver can proceed with caution through the red.
 
I'll have to remember about riding on the cuts... there's a few really bad lights out by my house, that i wasn't able to trip before.
 
Look both ways then go
 
I called 311 yesterday to report sensors near me that were insensitive to motorcycles. Within 24 hours I got this emailed response:


In response to your May 6, 2014 request to Toronto 311, we conducted detail review at the above-noted intersection by dispatching our electrical contractor to the location. To address your concern, our electrical contractor investigated left-turn detectors and enhanced the detector sensitivity at the intersection today. Our contractor reported that the traffic signal operation is working fine with the change after monitoring the real traffic approximately an hour.

For your information, the following left-turn arrows will only be active during the specified time period:

  • Eastbound Left-Turn Arrow 24 hours, daily;
  • Westbound Left-Turn Arrow 24 hours, daily;
  • Southbound Left-Turn Arrow 09:30 - 15:45 and 18:30 - 06:30, daily;
  • Northbound Left-Turn Arrow 06:30-09:30 M-F and 15:45 - 18:30, daily.
If you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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Ive had the same issue with a light by my house. I roll past the white line and flash and it works

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
WeatherB said:
Is there a pedestrian crossing button? I've had situations where I've had to get off my bike and press that button to trigger the light.
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I think Some one mentioned that was illegal....getting off of a vehicle to trigger pedestrain light to get right of way...some one correct me if I'm wrong on this plz...

...Learned this on one of my group rides...
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