Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Sumter Landing Stop light
View Single Post
 
Old 10-31-2022, 01:06 PM
Win1894 Win1894 is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 107
Thanks: 97
Thanked 69 Times in 36 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive View Post
Or possibly not.

I'm sure there are other kinds of traffic-sensing devices but the kind I am familiar with is the kind that senses a vehicle presence by weight. Every motorcyclist knows that depending on the bike, the weight might not be enough to register and as a consequence you can sit at a light for a VERY long time. In fact, Minnesota has a provision in the law that if you sit at a light on a motorcycle for two cycles of that light without getting a green light or arrow, you can run the light and have an "affirmative defense" if you get ticketed for it. There's not much difference in weight between my bike and our golf cart.

The intersection of El Camino Real and Enrique Drive appears to have such a system. Coming from El Diablo on Enrique and turning left onto El Camino Real can be problematic. I sat there in our golf cart for well over one light change before a car coming up alongside on my right tripped it. I don't know if Florida has such an "affirmative defense" provision in their law but was glad not to have to test it.
Again, traffic light sensors are not weight sensing devices. They are metal mass sensing electromagnetic devices, much like metal detectors used by airport security and treasure hunters. To your point though, a motorcycle may not have enough mass to trigger the magnetic field sensor. One effective trick is to stop the motorcycle closure to the buried inductive loop - closer to the edge of the traffic lane rather than in the middle of the lane. Even my metal frame bicycle will activate the traffic light sensor while, unfortunately, my carbon frame bike may not.