I really like item (2)
OSW members: We need your help to improve some Ohio laws!
As you've probably heard, the Ohio Bicycle Federation has been working to pass House Bill 145 in Ohio. HB 145 would do two things:
1) Require that motorists passing bicyclists give a minimum of three feet of clearance. (Over 20 states and many cities have laws like this.)
2) Allow vehicle operators (including bicyclists) to treat a traffic light as non-working if the light doesn't detect their presence and turn green. Basically, the operator would be allowed to treat the non-working light as a stop sign, instead of sitting there forever. (These faulty vehicle detectors are a problem for motorcycles and even some trucks, not just bicycles.)
After much discussion, the House Transportation Committee approved HB 145 by a vote of 7 to 2. The next step is to have HB 145 voted on by the full House, then the Senate, and hopefully signed by Governor Kasich.
It's likely the House vote will occur this week. Please, visit
http://www.ohiohouse.gov/ and type in your zip code, then use the results to send an email to your Ohio representative. Ask him or her to vote for these very reasonable bills when they're presented to the House of Representatives.
This is something easy YOU can do to make bicycling a little better in Ohio. Please do your part to help!
Thanks!
- Frank Krygowski
fultonco
2014-06-02 21:07:29
PA's
Title 75's 3112 (c) says:
Inoperable or malfunctioning signal.--If a traffic-control signal is out of operation or is not functioning properly, vehicular traffic facing a:
(1) Green or yellow signal may proceed with caution as indicated in subsection (a)(1) and (2).
(2) Red or completely unlighted signal shall stop in the same manner as at a stop sign, and the right to proceed shall be subject to the rules applicable after making a stop at a stop sign as provided in section 3323 (relating to stop signs and yield signs).
Ohio's version of this is currently written in a more limited way. Instead of saying "malfunctioning", it says "if the signal facing the driver either exhibits no colored lights or colored lighted arrows or, exhibits a combination of such lights or arrows that fails to clearly indicate the assignment of right-of-way" then you can stop, yield, then carefully go. Other types of malfunctions aren't covered.
The Ohio bill changes this to add "or the signals are otherwise malfunctioning, including the failure of a vehicle detector to detect the vehicle." In PA we already have the first part, but not the second.
steven
2014-06-03 10:58:13
Once again, there's no reason the magnetic induction detectors used in stop lights can't detect bicycles. They are designed to do that. The sensitivity may be set too low, or the detector might be broken, but if they are working properly they should be able to detect you if you ride on the cut line where the loop is installed (if it's visible and you have metal rims).
Not to say that it's wrong to stop sign the light if it's not working; that's fine. But you could also get it fixed. And it's a nice feeling to ride up to a red light and have it turn green just for you (as I do every day).
jonawebb
2014-06-03 11:17:09
^The problem is, one re-paving and the cut lines are gone. I encounter many of these. They will occasionally telegraph through over time, but then I can't imagine that anyone adjusts the induction sensitivity when re-paving is done.
Even armed with the knowledge that riding the lines *should* detect me, I have only had that succeed a couple of times out of dozens.
Any more than about a minute and stop light=stop sign for me.
edmonds59
2014-06-03 11:33:57
there’s no reason the magnetic induction detectors used in stop lights can’t detect bicycles.
It depends on a particular sensor type. Not all of them could be adjusted to this level.
PS and carbon fiber dudes (CF frame and the same Zipp 404 wheels, or Z9) are out of luck. :)
mikhail
2014-06-03 12:00:38
I've found that the intersection of rt 65 and logan ln (next to the sheetz) in Baden was not able to detect a motorcycle (a small road legal street / trail bike) in front of me, leaving me sitting at a traffic light for about 5 minutes until I asked the guy if he could move over and I could drive forward in my car to set off the sensor. It immediately changed as I moved over the sensor in my car.
I doubt this would pick up a bicycle, however, you probably don't want to ride on rt 65 anyway.
benzo
2014-06-03 12:01:14
Sounds about right. And the most common ones I encounter, I don't even wait. Whenever there's a break in the traffic, I go.
stuinmccandless
2014-06-03 12:02:11
I can’t imagine that anyone adjusts the induction sensitivity when re-paving is done.
There are more problems. We are talking about power part of wheel mostly and there is not so much "movement" of this part in magnetic field if wheel is not sliding. mostly vertical and pretty slow due to the angle. But if you stop, raise you rear wheel a little bit (5 mm?) and spin it using pedals then it generate much more "movement" in a magnetic field.
mikhail
2014-06-03 12:05:53
@mikhael: " It depends on a particular sensor type. Not all of them could be adjusted to this level."
Not true, based on the studies I read of sensors in this country. They are designed to detect bikes, etc. The sensitivity is sometimes set really low, to prevent false detections of cars in an adjacent lane. But that can be fixed (it should be set as high as possible w/o false positives, not as low as possible w/o false negatives).
"PS and carbon fiber dudes (CF frame and the same Zipp 404 wheels, or Z9) are out of luck. :) "
If you have carbon rims, you're out of luck, but the frame material is irrelevant.
@edmonds: "The problem is, one re-paving and the cut lines are gone. I encounter many of these."
Yes, that's a problem. They make stencils to mark where you are supposed to ride. But I suppose getting them to install the stencils would be even harder than getting them to set the sensitivity properly.
jonawebb
2014-06-03 12:34:16
Sounds to me that while fixing sensors would be a good thing, it would be better to have legislation legalizing common sense.
stuinmccandless
2014-06-03 13:09:46
"...it would be better to have legislation legalizing common sense."
If you must write stuff like that please warn me beforehand so I don't guffaw drink all over my desk. Thx.
edmonds59
2014-06-03 13:21:29
Not true, based on the studies I read of sensors in this country.
If I remember correctly you gave a URL to those studies. And it include only those that used in recent years. Not the ones form 90-s or even 80-s.
And not all sensors have been inductive ones.
If you have carbon rims, you’re out of luck, but the frame material is irrelevant.
Yes, it's relevant since it is connected to a sensor sensitivity. Distortion of electromagnetic field depends on amount of current inducted in metal and it depends on a surface that moves in the field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction -- in a definition it is a surface integral.
mikhail
2014-06-03 17:11:42
@mikhael, my point about the rims was that it has to be a fourth order effect in terms of distance from the sensor. So the frame wouldn't matter.
The only experimental study I found was pretty unequivocal about the magnetic induction sensors being adjustable to detect bikes. And the design studies include bikes as one of the vehicle types to detect. Sure, there might be induction sensors out there that can't detect them. But there's no evidence for that, that I know of.
jonawebb
2014-06-03 20:19:21
my point about the rims was that it has to be a fourth order effect in terms of distance from the sensor. So the frame wouldn’t matter.
It not that simple since part of the rim that close to sensor almost does not move in the field. Horizontal part of speed as vector value is clode to 0 and only vertical part is somewhat essential. While frame has horizontal value and no vertical one. That is a reason I told that if you raise rear wheel and spoin it while waiting it would produce much bigger fluke.
Sure, there might be induction sensors out there that can’t detect them. But there’s no evidence for that, that I know of.
I know for sure that Upper St. Clair changed at least two sensors that were too old and not adjustable. But USC had money to do it.
mikhail
2014-06-04 06:53:25
"It not that simple since part of the rim that close to sensor almost does not move in the field."
That makes sense, thanks.
jonawebb
2014-06-04 08:15:55
