Comments on: red light green light

By: friend

friend — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 21:14:15 +0000

Hey, all you need is a magnet attached to the bottom of your bike to make the loop detectors work. Search online for ferrite magnets they should be a couple bucks.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 07:18:52 +0000

odog13@Earthlink.net thats where i can be reached if any1 knows the site or how i can get my hands on the gadget.

By: o

Tue, 24 Feb 2004 07:17:28 +0000

where can i get the green light gizmo?

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 04 Nov 2003 18:57:09 +0000

Good rationale.

By: dan

dan — Thu, 30 Oct 2003 21:12:27 +0000

Rick: Thanks for the explanation. Now I need to get another motorcycle to test with.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 30 Oct 2003 19:24:14 +0000

The sensor that determines if a vehicle is in a specific location is really a coil of wire. If you look at the road you’ll see cuts in the pavement (usually a rectangle) with a line going to the side of the road. Inside this cut is a loop of wire (usually looped 3-7 times) through which a current is sent. This creates a magnetic field that gets changed when a metallic object breaks the field. The sensor at the side of the road can be set to different sensitivities which is why some of them don’t pick up motorcycles.

If you try breaking the field in different places it may help. I’ve found that the edge, directly over the wire, seems to be more sensitive, probably due to the shape of the magnetic field.

By: Cameron

Cameron — Thu, 30 Oct 2003 15:25:23 +0000

Aye, Aye!

By: Levi

Levi — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 21:12:24 +0000

Yes, I am opposed to anything that lowers speed limits. I’m more for safer vehicles, safer drivers, and higher speed limits. It works in Germany, why not here?

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 17:25:16 +0000

The unlucky 15% is made up of different cars depending on the situation. Small cars and motorcycles (any car that has a low headlight) have a slight disadvantage in sag curves and have major problems with sight/obstruction. Huge trucks have a disadvantage in tight horizontal curves and crest curves.

Motorcycles and small cars do have a driving advantage because of their lower centers of gravity; it’s one of the reasons why AASHTO designs for medium sized trucks instead of cars. Also, more and more people drive larger and larger vehicles. Last year AASHTO was considering raising the design headlight and sight height to match those of a mean SUV. Luckily that was rejected; it would have made some road elements very dangerous for small cars and motorcycles.

Actually, the 85% is pretty good. If roads were designed for more, the streets would be ridiculously conservative, not to mention expensive. It would also lower speed limits dramatically. 85% is a good compromise, all in all.

By: Levi

Levi — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 16:11:14 +0000

I’m curious about the 85% thing. What sort of vehicles fall in the 15%? If you remove traffic from the picture, small vehicles have a definite advantage over large ones when it comes to acceleration, braking, and corner grip, simply due to their lower mass. It seems to me that designing for larger vehicles then makes the road over-designed for small ones. Perhaps the 15% that aren’t safe are really huge trucks?