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Red Revert Lights -Ottawa

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Red Revert Lights -Ottawa

Old 05-29-19, 08:23 AM
  #1  
Daniel4
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Red Revert Lights -Ottawa

No doubt, some of you will confirm with this article why you should run red lights and stop signs, but that's not the point of this thread. So let's stay on topic.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/cyclist-red-reverts-light-safety-1.5153269

I find this another case of a system working as designed but not as intended. I would think a simple fix is to have traffic signals maintain their colour for the standard 30 seconds before changing. But these light change as soon as the bicycle rides off the sensors. And bad drivers who proceed on the cross traffic light instead of their own crash into cyclists still crossing the intersection.

Do you have red-revert lights in your city?
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Old 05-29-19, 08:49 AM
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Originally Posted by Daniel4
No doubt, some of you will confirm with this article why you should run red lights and stop signs, but that's not the point of this thread. So let's stay on topic.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...afety-1.5153269

I find this another case of a system working as designed but not as intended. I would think a simple fix is to have traffic signals maintain their colour for the standard 30 seconds before changing. But these light change as soon as the bicycle rides off the sensors. And bad drivers who proceed on the cross traffic light instead of their own crash into cyclists still crossing the intersection.

Do you have red-revert lights in your city?
I've never seen those, but it sure doesn't sound like they're working as designed. I don't think you have it quite right, though, it doesn't sound like the cyclist actually gets a green light, rather that the other lights turn red and then immediately go back to green because the bike has already left the mark (the cyclist "cheated up" as the other lights turned red in anticipation of the green, but his signal stayed red the entire time). Otherwise, there would be the normal green-yellow-red sequence for the bicyclist.
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Old 05-29-19, 10:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Daniel4
Do you have red-revert lights in your city?
I'm not aware of any in Colorado Springs, except that the article described exactly a situation that has occurred to me about once a year at an intersection by my home. I wait at a red light, cross traffic gets a yellow, then a red, and then when I expect to get the green myself, cross traffic gets the green instead.

If this is intentional, it is very dangerous for all who use the intersection, cars, cyclists and pedestrians who don;t press the crosswalk request button.

"My" intersection uses optical sensors, and while they work better at detecting cyclists than the in-ground sensors they replaced, they are not 100% perfect and fail to detect me every couple of months. And depending on wind and weather (I assume), I have witnessed them failing to detect full-size vehicles.
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Old 05-29-19, 07:37 PM
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I too am in Ottawa and am aware of this issue. I am also wondering if the recent collision of the guy from a cab going 45 km/hr over the speed limit was an issue due to the light. Remember the police blamed the cyclist, said he ran the light, was not wearing a reflective vest etc.
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Old 05-30-19, 01:05 PM
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I had not heard of these. I understand why they may be an advantage; however it seems that the technology had not been well thought out for all road users.
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Old 05-30-19, 02:42 PM
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What if you stayed on the sensors until the light turned to green? But most cyclists, myself included, start moving before the light turns green.

I do agree that it is a very dangerous situation. We don't have these where I live. Unless there are cars waiting with me I either run the red or mount the sidewalk to manually trigger the light.
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Old 05-30-19, 07:54 PM
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I'm not really seeing the advantage of such technology in the first place. Was there actually a problem this is seeking to solve?
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Old 05-30-19, 09:50 PM
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My city doesn't have red-revert, but the left-turn arrows across the four-lane highway are *very* short. I don't worry about the guy waiting at the light opposite me, but I worry very much about the guy in the next lane over, hidden from view, coasting up to the light so he can speed through when he gets his green.
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Old 05-31-19, 08:54 AM
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Originally Posted by jon c.
I'm not really seeing the advantage of such technology in the first place. Was there actually a problem this is seeking to solve?
I was wondering this as well. Maybe it's for when the light gets tripped by a car turning right, but they just make the turn because there's no cross traffic? I can't really think of a good reason.

I mean, I'd hate if some poor driver was inconvenienced by having to stop for a whole 30 seconds because a light triggered.....
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Old 05-31-19, 10:07 AM
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Originally Posted by jon c.
I'm not really seeing the advantage of such technology in the first place. Was there actually a problem this is seeking to solve?
Presumably the advantage is that the cyclist doesn't have get on the sidewalk to press the pedestrian crossing button to trigger a light change. Presently cars already have a trigger in the form of some magnetic strip on the road to trigger a light change. The difference with car trigger is that even if the car moves off before the light turns green the light still stays green. I can't understand why the same protocol can't be used with these yellow dots.
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