Modern Vespa

The local stoplights are giving me fits. Obviously, my GTS doesn't have enough iron on it to trip the stoplight sensor. Anybody have any tricks to get the stoplights to work for you?

That used to happen to us quite a bit around here. We just asked the city hall who was in charge of the local traffic lights, then emailed him with the non-working ones' details. It took some time, but as each traffic light was 'maintained' (every 12 months I understood) they were tweaked to work more sensitively.

Why they don't go for the motion sensitive ones that are much more prevalent in EU and elsewhere IDNK, and the induction loop ones are so much more expensive to maintain.


Relying on vehicles to be made mostly of ferrous materials seems very - - 1990's at the latest.

Bolt on a sidebar?

There were a few our motorcycle wouldn't trigger. I tried zip-tying a couple of incredibly strong magnets pulled from old hard drives to the bottom of the bike, magnet side down. I can't say it was a 100% fix, but it seemed to help.

1) side stand down
2) jump off your PTW and run over to the cross walk button
3) press the button and quickly return to your PTW
4) Side stand up and get ready to roll!



It works. I do this at busy intersections. At less busy intersections, I run the light when it's safe. This is legal in Nevada because the light is technically not functioning properly.

I'm in orange county in southern California and was told by highway patrol that if the lights don't trigger because your on a motorcycle you can run them as long as it's safe so I now do it quite frequently not sure of the legalities of it though.

Yeah, here in Texas the law is that I have to wait through one complete cycle, then I can proceed with caution at my own risk. That is fine, but somehow the situation changes from no traffic to max traffic during that time
I will give the magnet thing a try. I just wonder what gauss level is required?
Since the kick stand activation kills the engine, that is a no-go with me.

Thanks for the responses

The trouble with "wait one cycle" rules is that with sensor controlled stoplights, if your scooter never triggers them, they don't cycle.

Yeah, it's kind of a guessing game

Depending on sensitivity, the loops can be triggered by position sometimes.
[|] This type loop, if it is sensitive enough, I can trigger with my Primavera by stopping over the center wire.
[] This type loop, I can trigger by stopping over the wire on the left. I've not tried it on the right, so dunno.
This doesn't work on all, but I have greatly reduced the number of those I used to stop and wait a long time for a cager to come along since I ride less traveled roads.
Again, this improved my odds in my area and depends on how sensitive the loops are programmed.

A little story.
I was sitting at a light near a busy mall. Mall traffic goes into the right turn lane. I needed to go left. Right lane was one of those lanes that merges with cross traffic while my lane was controlled by traffic light. After waiting for about 5 minutes, there was a long break in traffic. I took advantage. I then saw the reason for the long gap. A state trooper had a line behind him. He U-turned and wouldn't listen. Ticket. In court, I provided my argument. He replied I was wrong and offered proof by using the traffic light in front of the court house. I had spoken to the engineer(to verify no changes before court) and had his phone number. The judge called him from the bench. Judge said we'll meet at the light where the offense took place and the trooper would block traffic. The trooper then withdrew the the ticket. Dismissed.

Don't have this product so can't say it works but here is what they say....
WHAT THE GLT 2.0 IS
A patented device - specifically designed for motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, and other smaller vehicles - employing the use of two powerful neodymium magnets and a custom-designed low-profile plastic injection molded chassis that legally turns red traffic lights into green ones.

The GLT 2.0 compensates for the deficient structural mass of small vehicles that fail to trigger green signals at traffic lights - like full size vehicles do - by cost-effectively and efficiently "enlarging" their presence at the sensors embedded in the pavement. And now red lights are triggered to turn green.

No more endless waiting at stop lights or dangerous user-fixers - like running red lights. $29.99 in the US.

https://greenlighttriggers.com/

Well, for 30 bucks, it is worth a try. I just ordered one.

Earlier today, I rode out to one of my least favorite traffic lights, with a pretty powerful big speaker magnet. I always get stuck at this light because cagers are almost never pulling up behind me. I placed the magnet in a strategic location and waited for the light to change. For the next 30 minutes I waited. Just about every 30–60 seconds, a car or truck pulled up to the light
That NEVER happens when I am on my scooter or bike! So, so much for my scientific experiment

Well, obviously your magnet was attracting other vehicles. Try a smaller magnet next time.

Once you get it let us know if it works.

I have strong magnets on my oil filter and have had for years obviously to collect metal particals and hold them there and I've never triggered any lights.

The PITA method. Be in the center-ish of the lane. Sometimes quite nasty.

Footsies down. Stop the frig'n scoot. Start it again.

The common wisdom (chance accident/physics) is. "Instant magnetic field".

It's the last thing I try before jumping the light.

Sometimes it works….Say more than 60/40 and less than 75/25.

Wear protection, bright colors and have bail money.

A local motorcycle cop (on duty) told me the exact same thing. Come to a complete stop, wait, determine the light isn't going to change, proceed when safe to do so.

What scares me is when it's a left turn lane with a dedicated light at a busy intersection. I feel like a sitting duck waiting for the light to never change or someone to come up behind me so the light will trigger.

I assume at your test intersection, you've tried different parts (left, center, right) of the lane and and different distances back from the line (1m, 3m, 5m) and combinations of. seems to help for the couple of troublesome local ones I've got, probably because the location of the lines moved after the sensor was installed (due to addition of lines for bike lane)

Sometimes I do this when I'm making a left turn, even if the light works for me. This gives me 35-40 seconds of clear rear view mirrors(no cross traffic behind me).

https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/mo0pa0/when_your_bike_is_invisible_to_traffic_light/

You could try putting a green light trigger on the bottom and see if that helps.

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Right. Or rather more simply, if you've waited a full cycle, then...at some point you got a green!? Or am I missing something?

Where I live, a lot of the left turn lanes do not cycle to green unless triggered. The same goes with a smaller street intersecting with a larger roadway.

I can sit at the light exiting my neighborhood indefinitely as the light cycles through managing cars on the main road I am trying to cross or turn left onto.

FWIW, Wisconsin simply allows PTWs and bikes to proceed after 45 seconds. They apparently thought that one through.

Neither of my scooters trigger the light. I am almost positive in Minnesota all you have to do is wait until the traffic is clear and go. Also, you can turn right here on a red light if the traffic is clear to proceed. If there is an accident, you will be at fault (Obviously it was not clear or safe).

Also, as an insurance guy, it is exremely difficult to prove speed. So, routinely you would be considered AT FAULT if there is an accident. So watch for those hot dogs driving over the speed limit. Plus, you may not be alive to debate the issue if you pulled out.

Be safe out there friends.

Bob Copeland

I fill in the form on the national bikers association website, specifying the location of the traffic light. They contact the authorities. The traffic department usually sends someone within one week to calibrate the traffic sensors at that crossroad.

Virginia allows motorcyclists to proceed through a red light as long as they wait 2 full cycles of the light or 2 minutes, whichever is less.

In my town, the lights are typically triggered by a loop in the asphalt.

I laugh when I see cars pulled past the loops, then sit there indefinitely until someone pulls up behind them on the loop.

Only a few of the lights I deal with are slow or don't trigger with my scooters.

I look to make sure that a police officer isn't in view, check for an opening in traffic, then run the light.

So far, so good.

Bill

I have found that if you are over on the left side of the lane, putting the bike over on the sidestand is often enough to trigger the light. Just put the side stand down and rest the bike on it.
Most of the new lights here are radar activated. Annoying when the detector goes off, but they do trip pretty quickly when I'm on the bike.

I used to worry about running lights, too, but since I usually ride early in the morning on Sundays, I just wait until the intersection clears and go if the light doesn't change for me. I usually get just inside and over the left side of the coil.

Over my 77 years, I have run a bunch of stop lights, but the intersection from my subdivision is somewhat daunting. It is two lanes crossing seven lanes. When I have waited the complete cycle of the stoplight, running or turning to one of those lanes creates quite a pucker factor

There's a computer simulator that can help you practice this. It's called Frogger.

Known trouble lights - weekdays I pull to curb wait for a car.
W/E, I turn into closed muffler shop exit it, turn left and go.

O.S.

After wating the appropriate time, I run them.

My Greenlight Trigger arrived 3 days ago. I found that it did not trigger a single traffic light in my riding area
Like my earlier experiment, the GLT does seem to draw cars. I had a hell of a time getting a light of my own for the first 2 days.
Today, early on a Sunday morning, I tried again. Over 2 hours, I managed to get some lights to myself. It never triggered a single light. At least not until a car/truck pulled up behind me. I did find that my auxiliary cooling fan does work well

I fired off an email to GLT to see if they had any suggestions.
I will keep y'all informed of the outcome. Until then, I will be doing the Frogger challenge

Once again, mostly left turn lanes however some regular stop lights: magnets, green light trigger, try to find the sensor wire or loop……

The only thing that "seems" to work is:

Stuck in the lane. No light cycle comes your way.

Step 1. hit the kill switch.

Step 2. start the scoot (magnetic field of starter and the now magnetized scooter) trip the light.

Step 3a. drive off under the warm green glow of a newly triggered light cycle.

Step 3b. Jump the light

I tried that today several times, and it did not work either. It just may be Texas traffic lights

I now wonder if those jacked-up pickup trucks have a problem with stoplights?

We do not have many of these triggered red lights over here.
But not too far from here there is one triggered by a loop. I have to go left there. It does not react on my BV.

Mostly I am not the first in line and there is no issue, but when I am the first I stop after the loop and hope it will not take long for a car to pull up behind me that triggers the loop.

If it takes too much time I have an escape. At the left side on the corner there is a gas station. Then I pull over to there and exit to the left, taking care of traffic.

Recently I pulled behind a car at my one trouble light.....only to discover the idiot had probably been there forever...because he'd stopped way past the stop bar. And was nowhere near the thing in the road!
I honked, waved, pointed down, tried to get him to back up. Repeatedly.

Nothing!
I went around and ran the light. Far as I know he had breakfast there.
O.S.

Legally speaking, I don't think California has a dead red law. Practically speaking, they ignore so many people actually running red lights that you're probably fine if you're responsible about it.

I have emailed SFMTA and gotten them to fix bad sensors on my commute.