In his old year cabaret show, Peter Pannekoek stated the buttons near crossings don’t actually do anything, they’re just there to just pacify people. I’m fairly certain they in fact do work, though for cyclists they’re mostly redundant: the magnetic loops in the road surface detect cyclists. Only for lightweight carbon bikes a manual button is still useful.
Am I correct in my assumption?
They absolutely do something!
If I don’t push the button, there’s a good chance that a light which looks to want to change to green, will stay red, and the flashing “don’t walk” hand will turn solid, and you’ll miss the “walk” + green.
I’ve had to wait twice as long at some crossings because of that.
Even in cases where the light turns green, if the button isn’t pressed, sometimes it will not show the “walk” symbol, even if it’s OK to do so.
In the Netherlands the buttons seem to do something - at some places, when traffic is calm, the lights are red for all, and pressing the button turns the bike light green. I’ve also noticed a waiting timer for bikes at some intersections that only activates when the button is pressed so I think it works?
Depends where. Here, in the CBD a lot don’t do anything as there’s always a pedestrian walk cycle every time the lights cycle. Out of the CBD, they still work.
Mild frustration when you get to a light with people waiting and find no one pushed the button. Having to wait another cycle to get across.
At least where I live the induction coils frequently won’t pick up my motorcycle, let alone my bicycle!
What really sucks is when you’re in a left turn lane with a red arrow and the light changes for cars going straight but just keeps you with a red arrow. No button to press.Just gotta run the red cuz it’s never gonna change :(
Because oncoming traffic also has a green light? What are you doing running red lights? I have that exact setup near where I live. Straight gets green, left turn has a red arrow (meaning right of way when green), which cannot get green because oncoming straight traffic has green. Once those get red and it’s your turn in the cycle, it will go green. As long as there is any crossing traffic, you will not get green, that’s what the arrow means. Please don’t ever run a red light again, other people with an arrow probably have green and won’t expect you. If you don’t get green, check if you’ve stopped at the line, since a lot of traffic lights will skip empty lanes to improve the flow of traffic. No sense in giving an empty lane a green light whilst people in other lanes are waiting at a red light. Unfortunately I see people daily who stop well short of the line and thus aren’t picked up by the ground loops. Until people behind them honk when the light doesn’t turn green for two cycles and they pull up properly.
