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Comment by bluecalm | Hacker News Reader

We have those in Poland. Sucks if you are on a bike. You need to wait for a car to turn it green for you.

If they're using inductive vehicle detector loops in the pavement, those can be tuned to detect motorcycles and bicycles (probably not carbon fiber bikes though). Where I've seen and used loops tuned for bicycles, they have a different cut pattern and a painted bike to accent positions where the detector is likely to detect you... Sadly, they don't tend to have far back detectors (advance loops) tuned for bikes so an idle intersection won't be green when you get there like if you were a car. You can sometimes get a detection on a car tuned detector by riding right on top of the wire, but it's iffy.

I'd imagine camera detectors can be tuned for bicyclists as well, but I have less experience with those.

Here's a nice survey of bicycle detection options [1], if you're willing to work with whoever does traffic control near you, this might help get a conversation started. This is focused on US applications, but the ideas should be broadly applicable.

[1] https://altago.com/wp-content/uploads/ALTA_Bike_Detection_Wh...

My city has inductive bike sensors at specific intersections but many intersections (even ones with bike lanes) lack them. Cycling infrastructure is so half-assed in the US.

Cost per benefit? My friend is a commercial property guy and sometimes has to bring properties up to date for handicapped access.

He jokes that with how few handicapped people use the features, he could probably give people $1k each as an apology for not being able to go into the building and be far ahead.

I started thinking that for the most part most handicapped people would even take that deal. I think I would.

I don't think it costs that much more to use a D or Q pattern for the inductive loop instead of a circle for new loops. But, if the loops are already there, it is a lot of expense to put in new ones.

Adding a loop to bike lanes might be reasonable, or maybe it forces a controller upgrade and that's not reasonable... but if you make the lowest speed through lane and at least one of each protected turn lanes bike accessible (while otherwise doing loop work), that's good. I think the loops are pretty shallow, so if the road has significant rebuild/repair, it's time to address the loop design.

The key word for ADA is reasonable accomodation. It does add expense, and not every feature is used often, but it's 35 years since the ADA passed and the US is a lot more accessible now than it was in 1990. The window of reasonable changes over time too, of course.

Definitely didn't work for my carbon bike. It's annoying because sometimes those are put in place on very minor - major road crossings and those are dangerous to cross on red light (and the minor roads are exactly the ones you want to be on the bike). I had 2 of those on my usual loop when I lived in Poland. Sometimes I just waited for a car but especially on weekends I needed to risk it and run the red light as otherwise I would be stuck there for a few hours.

> Definitely didn't work for my carbon bike

Didn't work for my 200kg metal motorcycle either most of the time.

In the Netherlands we have ones that detect warm bodies.

Sucks if you are a zombie...

Here in Zombieland we have cameras that can detect any bipedal movement.

Sucks if you drive a car

There's a road closure near me here in Rotterdam which has encouraged some people to get around it by cycling on a short patch of the tram track. It's quite funny to hear the "tram approaching" bell ringing only to look and see a small boy on his bike.

I have one in my city in Canada. Basically, on the bike you have to mount your bike from the bike path onto the sidewalk and press the pedestrian walk button. That turns the light green. Extremely annoying.

Since when did cyclists take notice of traffic lights?

If you think cyclists break more traffic rule than drivers your view or reality is distorted. Try looking at the data and then around. You just notice them breaking the rules because they are different than you. It's a bias worth correcting.

I notice them when I cycle. Most common infraction, which I can't understand due to the sheer danger, is running red lights. Wouldn't occur to me in a car, much less in a smaller vehicle.

Different than me? When I used to cycle, I skipped through traffic lights, when it seemed safe to, and I've seen many other cyclists do the same. It's not a bias, it's an observation. But I mainly said it as a joke, because it's a well known stereotype, for good reason. At least where I am.

So they assume perfect vehicle detection? Sensors should be used to speed up a regular cycle. They should not be the only thing changing a light.

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