Here's a Streetfilms video on bike signals in Portland. There are two interesting things about this example.
First of all this gives bikes a way to get through this intersection on a single green light; if they had to follow the car-oriented signals, they'd probably have to cross two streets separately, and wait for two signals. It would be really nice to be able to do this where the SW trail crosses Regent/Monroe, and there are probably other similar locations in other parts of the city. I'm also impressed by the marked strip where bikes can park to activate the signal. It would be great to have those at a lot of intersections, even without the special lights. Theoretically, the sensor coils at every traffic signal in the city can be tripped when a bike rides over it. In practice, it's hard to figure out where the coils are, and there's no way to be sure they work (unless the signal changes, which may never happen). For example, the signals on the Capital City Trail at Dunning & Atwood never seem to work for me, unless I trudge over to the button (which is not conveniently located for bikes, at least in front of the Harmony) and press the button. These signals are on a very busy bike route, so they should be more bike-friendly. Perhaps we should brainstorm a list of intersections where bike-oriented signals actually would solve a problem. Mitch ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul T. O'Leary" <[email protected]> To: "Mitchell Nussbaum" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 7:43:10 AM Subject: Re: [Bikies] Improvement on Segway? From: Mitchell Nussbaum <[email protected]> > Hi,Has anyone seen this proposal? Ald.s Compton and Skidmore want to put > traffic lights on > some bike paths, and there would be $20 fines for not obeying them: > http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_ecbbbada-3d61-11e0-a07f-0 > 01cc4c002e0.html - Genie Ogden Textbook case of a "solution" in search of a problem. Note that not ONE actual location of a need for such a control was mentioned. Nor was there a mention of a citizen or citizen group initiating it. Not even a hint at what _kind_ of location would call for such a thing. --------------------- Paul T. O'Leary Desktop Insurgent Madison WI USA _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
