drivers....
I sat through an extra cycle at a traffic signal this morning to educate a couple of drivers about how some traffic signals work. (You'd think everyone would know this....) Our side of this intersection has 4 sensors. We're on a side road, and the main road has a parallel service road. (One sensor where the side road meets the main road, and sensors entering the secondary intersection. And STOP lines painted at these points.) I'm waiting at the main road, a guy has come up the side road behind me, and a lady has come from the service road to my right. My bicycle is over a sensor which will ignore it. The guy is encroaching into the secondary intersection, but he may be over enough of his sensor. The lady from the side is way into the intersection and past her sensor.
The opposite side road gets a separate green before ours, during which the guy creeps beyond his sensor. So the only thing on our sensors is a bicycle. We don't get a green light.
I get off my bike (leaving it in the road) and go tell them why we didn't get a green light. The lady is apologetic and thanks me; it's happened before and she never understood why. (Geez, don't people question how things work? Can we set up a separate country for the people who don't think?) The guy (putting away a cell phone) is indignant - "I was behind the stop line." Well, no, you mostly weren't, and you definitely weren't when it mattered, when it was our turn to go. He took off up the service road to the left.
Those lines are painted where they are for a couple of reasons: so large vehicles have clearance for turns, and so people who need to (e.g. right on red) can see oncoming traffic. The sensors are placed for people who stop where they should. So even if you want to ignore the social contract of leaving room for everybody to get through, it's in your interest to wait where you will get a green light.
FYI, at intersections where the sensors don't detect bikes, it's legal (in Virginia) for them to run the red light. (It's not like I'd have any other option when there's no cars going my way.)When I reach my office, I make a left turn into the driveway. Today there was a woman coming out of the driveway making a left turn. She had a NO LEFT TURN sign. I'm sure I surprised her. Any traffic coming from my direction would surprise her, because the road has a high median that blocks the view. That's why the NO LEFT TURN sign is there. If I'd been in a car moving 30-45 MPH (48-72 KM/H) (way over the posted speed, but typical), she probably wouldn't have had time to react to avoid getting into my path.
The road is a loop. Going to the right might be a smidgen longer. Going to the left has a stop sign where the loop connects. Going to the right is definitely faster overall, and the extra stop going left eats up any fuel savings from the shorter distance.
The opposite side road gets a separate green before ours, during which the guy creeps beyond his sensor. So the only thing on our sensors is a bicycle. We don't get a green light.
I get off my bike (leaving it in the road) and go tell them why we didn't get a green light. The lady is apologetic and thanks me; it's happened before and she never understood why. (Geez, don't people question how things work? Can we set up a separate country for the people who don't think?) The guy (putting away a cell phone) is indignant - "I was behind the stop line." Well, no, you mostly weren't, and you definitely weren't when it mattered, when it was our turn to go. He took off up the service road to the left.
Those lines are painted where they are for a couple of reasons: so large vehicles have clearance for turns, and so people who need to (e.g. right on red) can see oncoming traffic. The sensors are placed for people who stop where they should. So even if you want to ignore the social contract of leaving room for everybody to get through, it's in your interest to wait where you will get a green light.
FYI, at intersections where the sensors don't detect bikes, it's legal (in Virginia) for them to run the red light. (It's not like I'd have any other option when there's no cars going my way.)When I reach my office, I make a left turn into the driveway. Today there was a woman coming out of the driveway making a left turn. She had a NO LEFT TURN sign. I'm sure I surprised her. Any traffic coming from my direction would surprise her, because the road has a high median that blocks the view. That's why the NO LEFT TURN sign is there. If I'd been in a car moving 30-45 MPH (48-72 KM/H) (way over the posted speed, but typical), she probably wouldn't have had time to react to avoid getting into my path.
The road is a loop. Going to the right might be a smidgen longer. Going to the left has a stop sign where the loop connects. Going to the right is definitely faster overall, and the extra stop going left eats up any fuel savings from the shorter distance.