[SDCBC] What were they thinking?

[Mike Elliott]

Here in Carlsbad I worked with the traffic department on a fairly nasty 
intersection. After restriping it so the bike lane didn't get squashed 
between the curb and the right turn only lane (without even a crosswalk 
to ped across the street there), the traffic signals weren't "seeing" 
cyclists waiting in the middle (straight) or left turn lanes. They put 
me in touch with the contract engineer responsible for the signals and 
he met me there where he found that there was a bad connection and a few 
other things that needed tweaking. Now the light detects bikes 
perfectly, but it doesn't give as long a green left turn arrow as I 
would like -- that was my bad because I didn't notice it when I was 
testing it with him. I'm certain that had I asked for another 5 seconds, 
he would have given it to me then and there. That's my one experience, 
with one intersection, in one town.

As for general timing rules that all lights must meet, I suspect it's 
like the 85% rule for determining speed limits, and each intersection is 
set up according to the phase of the moon, etc.

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott


On 3/26/2008 10:13 AM dfege at aol.com wrote:

> Building on John's comments, let me expand the discussion a little.  I 
> run into a number of intersections where there is simply not enough time 
> for bicyclist to make a left hand turn on the arrow.  It's generally 
> where the intersections are "wide", with the bicyclist having to cross 
> the equivalent of three lanes in the opposite direction to complete the 
> left turn.  The cause ususally is (I think) that the sensor realizes 
> that only one car is turning left and the light changes immediately  
> after that car completes the left turn, while the bicyclist has hardly 
> entered the intersection.  Anything we can do to have a "minimum" amount 
> of time for left turns that allows enough time for a bicyclist to 
> complete the left turn?
>  
> Dave
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Eldon <j.eldon at sbcglobal.net>
> To: Mike Elliott <camping.elliott at gmail.com>; 'SDCBC' 
> <sdcbc at bikesandiego.org>
> Sent: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 8:56 am
> Subject: Re: [SDCBC] What were they thinking?
> 
> My point has consistently been that Mike's "combat zone" intersections 
> need to be demilitarized, i.e., traffic-calmed and made bicyclist- and 
> pedestrian-friendly. If you guys think these are bad for cyclists, try 
> one in ped. mode sometime.
> 
> Case in point: I confirmed Monday night that within the next year or so, 
> as adjacent property is developed, the free right turns at the Highway 
> 101 / La Costa Av. intersection in northwestern Encinitas will be 
> eliminated. We need to keep complaining about dangerous intersections, 
> such as those near SDSU and Mission Bay -- the squeaky wheel does 
> occasionally get lubed!
> 
> */Mike Elliott <camping.elliott at gmail.com 
> <mailto:camping.elliott at gmail.com>>/* wrote:
> 
>     Hi Tom, please don't take my smarta$$ comment seriously. Alongside the
>     truly brave and the silly who ride through those areas that scare /me/
>     silly are those who know what they are doing. It sounds like you do.
> 
>     While riding with and in traffic is always risky business, there are
>     degrees of riskiness, and intersections like this one are riskier than
>     many other places where cages and bicycles mix. To my mind, such places
>     are essentially combat zones where only the alert, hardened, and
>     trained
>     rider can survive; and if it is a war there then either the bike lane
>     should be removed so civilians don't wander into that meat grinder by
>     accident, or new signage should be added describing the area as a
>     conflict-level intersection.
> 
>     -- 
>     Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 
> 
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