"MacGyverisms"

Think green!


What do you do when you come to an intersection and the light is red? Do you go over and push the "walk" button? That may work if you're going straight, or there is no one in the right turn lane blocking you.

But what if there is? or you're in the left turn lane (waiting for a left turn arrow). Or maybe you would just like to be treated like the legitimate vehicle you know you are? There is a way to get a green light or arrow, just like a car does. Here's how...


At many street intersections, especially where a minor street crosses a major one, there are sensors built into the pavement. This is so traffic on the major street doesn't have to stop for the light unless someone on the minor street is waiting to cross or turn.

These streets are usually the ones that have the walk buttons. The sensors are embedded into the pavement, usually two to a lane, one a few feet behind the other starting at stop line or back edge of the pedestrain crossing zone. They look like saw cuts in the roadway, usually octagons or circles. On a few streets they may have been paved over, but they are usually in the same place on every street in your community.

Many people believe, falsely, that only a heavy vehicle can set these sensors off. This is not true. They do not respond to weight, they work by creating an electric field. Any conductive metal entering that field will disrupt it. and trigger the sensor. Just like the metal detectors you see people using on the beaches and at the parks to find Spanish dubloons, Rolex watches and aluminum pop tops.

So why don't they work for bicycles? Even a carbon fiber bike has metal rims and components.


The problem is, most of these sensors are designed with cars in mind. An automobile chassis is low to the ground and covers a lot of horizontal area. Bicycles, on the other hand. even steel framed bikes have their metal high off the ground and in a vertical position. It simply doesn't cause enough of a disruption to register. Your bike is like a "stealth" fighter, it doesn't "see" you.

But that doesn't mean you can't set these things off, you just have to get the metal you do have within the electric field created by the loop. This can be done by simply leaning the bike on its side!


Come to a stop with your tires on one edge or the other of the loop. Plant one foot on or near the center of and lean the bike over until the top tube of the frame (or the place where the top tube WOULD be, if it's not a standard diamond frame) is near your knee.

Now there is enough metal whithin the field for the sensor to "see" you. Just hold it there until you get a green light or arrow.

You may be able to lift the bike back to vertical before the light turns green, depending on how your community's lights are programmed. In most of Southern California, for example, I only have to lean my bike until the opposing traffic gets the yellow. Then I can rais it back vertical and get ready to go.

THANKS! I'LL NEVER PUSH A BUTTON AGAIN!-->

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or a MacGyverism of your own?
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