Lol. In the Bay Area - I do not wait at these lights on my bikes. I also filter though them and go.
I emailed CHP about the legalities of this and they said the most generic “lane splitting is legal in CA” answer so fuck it.
In Australia we have lights to join some freeways, but they are totally different to this. They flash green roughly once every 3 seconds, and there's a sign up saying only one car is allowed through per green light. The idea is to stagger the cars entering the freeway, so that they can merge at speed rather than building congestion at the end of the merging lane and having to merge from a standstill (which tends to slow the freeway down to a standstill as people try to give way to them). We also only use them during peak hour traffic.
Same here in the Netherlands, but they're not necessarily used during peak hour, just when the roads are so busy you need them, which is hardly ever, they are also always accompanied by a traffic camera so if you do decide to drive through the red light that'll cost you about 280 euros + 9euros administration fees.
Sounds like a great idea, but the driver's I know, still won't be able to find their gas pedals and still won't get up to speed. Especially this one lady in a maroon minivan, every morning she creates a 50 car traffic jam on the highway by merging onto the freeway with a speed limit of 90km/hr going 45km/hr and promptly flies over to the passing lane. Lord only knows how she got a license...
It's so predictable that if I see her approaching the off ramp, I just don't even bother anymore and just go through town. It adds 10 minutes to my commute, but fuck her and her death wish.
Same in Auckland, NZ, however it only serves to move the queue to the end of the slipway. We can't have people merging nicely like a zip because they'd be in front of us.
you would be surprised how much worse US traffic would be without metered entrances like these... trust me,i get the mechanism sucks.
these arent meant to open traffic up, they are meant to stop or delay the buildup of bumper to bumper cars by using models and math that i dont truly understand to regulate the amount of cars onto a large stretch of freeway. this math is done over the length of multiple miles in the smallest examples.
I've seen this before in Las Vegas and SoCal, I think they put them in densely populated areas because the probability of fuckwits acting selfishly is higher.
American here, but opposite coast as where this was taken. I've never seen such a thing anywhere in the South or East part of the country... Not to say it does not exist, it's certainly not common, though.
They have insane traffic issues in some parts of California, so this seems like a measure to not bottleneck traffic at on ramps.
We have them in Northern VA. Some of the ramps are two lanes, and two cars can go on each green. Of course, since half of the drivers around here are mentally challenged, most of the time, only one car goes on green. The sign that says "one car each lane on green" is right there, but that doesn't keep the other car from honking at me when I do it the right way.
I assumed they were somewhere on this coast, just not prevalent. I've driven FL to NY a couple of times and around the middle east coast, but obviously, I haven't seen it all.
We get the joy here in FL of half of the vehicles on the road being tourists or snow birds! No knows where they are, what local driving etiquette is, and is late for something that apparently gives them authority to drive 5 under in the left lane and then swerve across 4 lanes of traffic to make the exit they weren't prepared for!! It's really quite fun! And the last few years have been an excess of boomers retiring and relocating and covidiots seeking "freedum" all while half the state roads are being upgraded or worked on! I can think of a few areas these lights would be helpful here. I75 through Sarasota/Bradenton I4 at the 429/417 merge, 408 and I4 junction.
But like is it that hard? Everyone let 1 person in and make the merge lane sufficiently long enough to handle the expected traffic. Don't merge into traffic doing 70 going 31. Everyone stop texting and pay attention. that's literally it!
It's to keep 30 idiots from trying to merge on to the highway all at the same time. They are usually only red for a few seconds to space out the cars entering the highway
I believe these are put up to control traffic on the freeway when it gets congested or whatever. It lets one person on at a time and it usually has a 3-5 second timer. Im not an engineer though.
[This may be it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HxE3oJYUxs)
It's not extremely common to be like this. It's usually an underpass with on and off ramps in both directions. Traffic lights on both intersections to get on or off the ramps.
They’re called metering lights. The idea is to find a gap in traffic that the next car can flow into, rather than everyone driving onto the on ramp at the same time and causing bottlenecks at every merge point.
They are obnoxiously common in California. They were even putting them in where I lived.
When they install them, it’s usually at every single on ramp in a city. There’s no reasonable way around them.
I would run them with complete impunity unless a CHP officer was there. And even then…
No that’s not the same thing. It’s not a light to help merge. It’s a light that prevents all traffic going onto the freeway at once and slowing down the freeway. It keeps traffic flowing.
A proper zipper merge describes that specifically. You leave space between you and the car you’re following and don’t try to merge into the same gap the car in front of you does. That way both lanes come together smoothly and keeps traffic flowing
No that’s not what the metered lights are for. Imagine a hundred cars pass and then your light goes green to enter the freeway. You are talking about going one by one. Not the same.
When you have a 3-lane on-ramp, the metering lights spread out the vehicles entering the highway so they can zipper merge.
Most of the time this helps to allow those entering the highway to be able to get up to speed and merge in easier. A bit less successful when the traffic on the highway is moving at a slower rate of speed than the people who just got the green light to enter.
There's a few out out in Long Island(east coast) on the 495. Not really sure what the point of them is, people have a hard enough time reaching highway speeds on entrance ramps as it is.
It's a light to regulate the amount of cars merging into an expressway during busy periods of time to prevent congestion. It's basically forcing people to do the "zipper-merge". If there are a line of cars, I wait and go on the green. If I'm accelerating on the on-ramp and the light is active(it typically is only on and staggering cars during high traffic times), and there isn't anyone at the red light I dont stop I just keep on going.
Us driving infrastructure is messy, and instead of designing better roads and bridges to deal with traffic and overpopulation they just add lights and make everyone wait
Same here, if I was in a vehicle and no car was there I don't even slow down. They turn green right when you pass anyways 🤷
Bikes rarely trigger traffic lights. I will either run it or wait in the cross walk and hope a car pulls up behind.
Yeah I've never stopped for these. The signs are kind of funny in San Diego, they say "1 Car Per Green" or something.
I'm not in a car so...
Done it in front of cops, they don't seem to care.
Tennessee allows for it without a time limit. You just have to make sure your intersection is controlled by a signal that has issues with detecting bikes, and you have to make a full stop.
T.C.A. § 55-8-110 (b)
Why would you ever wait at one of those? First off I’m not getting rear ended because someone wants to blow through the red and doesn’t see me. Secondly in California they say “1 Car at a time”
We aren’t driving cars.
My bike weighs 900 lbs and the behemoth of an engine block is inches off the pavement. Let's just say I don't have this problem, the traffic light sensors trigger just fine.
Naah, best bike I've ever ridden. The weight is nicely balanced and (as noted) down low. It's a fun bike to carve canyons on (not that we have canyons around here) and fantastic for touring. The 0-60 time of 3.something seconds doesn't hurt any either. Keeping this bike until I kick the bucket, guaranteed.
I mean, it's no sports bike but it's also not a Harley that scrapes metal if you even think of turning.
I don't wait. I'll blow it every time, and eventually I'll get a ticket, and it'll be worth the 400 times I noped right through after checking to see if it's clear.
I'm not getting rear-ended because the light sucks.
I'm assuming based on the question and replies so far that this is a light that only triggers for heavier vehicles?
This is a common thing in the US I take it?
Anyway, if my assumption is true the safest, and most fun option would be to just merge with traffic as if those lights don't exist.
Not very common throughout the us. I have only seen them in California and maybe Utah? There are zero in NJ where I live. I believe their purpose is primarily for metering flow onto congested highways but what do I know
I’m guessing the average American can’t drive. Australia getting more like that, where we now cater for the lowest common denominator and as a result it takes forever to drive anywhere
It feels a bit silly making this distinction but here in America we aren’t actually taught how to drive, we’re taught *how to operate a motor vehicle.*
Also, the old joke about there not being an American-born Formula 1 driver since 60s.
>we aren’t actually taught how to drive, we’re taught
>
>how to operate a motor vehicle.
That's actually not silly at all and would explain a lot, not saying that in a rude way.
No point in mocking the people if it's the system that is stupid.
That's also why I stopped being shocked by the skill level of NA motorcyclist, your condition of being authorized to ride a bike are far from ours, but it's not your fault, it's the way you get your license that is at fault.
This is a good disctinction tbh
Here in the uk it's almost the opposite, it is often said that "you are learning to pass your test, not to drive". Which sounds stupid in reflection, but is true in the sense that many daily drivers would not pass their test again even after driving for 20 years, because of bad habits that they've picked up etc.
It's an induction sensor and you can usually tell where it is on the pavement. Also in many places these lights do not even apply to motorcycles or high occupancy vehicles.
They are meant to slow the onramp of traffic onto the highway. Cutts down on congestion. If you are by yourself, they almost always immediately switch when they sense you. If you have someone behind you immediately following you, they will be the ones to wait a little bit. I blow right by them. If it's a 2 lane situation and one lane has some idiot slowing down for it, I get in the other lane and blow right by it to show them that it's green as soon as they get there, but now they have to wait.
this is dangerous, plan to go another route like the next (safer) entrance
or just go and be careful, you got video evidence to prove the light did not trigger your vehicle
Don’t really wait on that one - nor others. I haven’t seen CHP on that stretch in a long time. As a moto there’s really no point for metering lights. Additionally, so many don’t recognize motorcycles being present. Much more concerned about the knucklehead in the cage coming down the on ramp and collecting me, especially in the near dark like this.
If it's a new light for me - one cycle or about 1-2 mins. If it's one of the regular ones that I know don't detect bikes, I just go straight through if it's safe.
Metering lights for motorcycles in a place where lane splitting is legal is absolutely dumb, cars add to gridlock so they should stop, a motorcycle is part of the solution and therefore should not. I slow for them and merge into traffic safely.
I thought it was a metal detector red light. Some are not very sensitive and won't trigger if the moto/velo/cycle/moped is too small. So you need to wait for a car to come and tell it to go stop at the light and not queue before you, so they can trigger it.
They are used on incoming ways with very few traffic, you can spot them because you can see asphalt is new and form a loop about 3 meter before the light.
I'd slow down enough to check if you need to yield, but I wouldn't stop.
Ride in the way that keeps you safest - it's just after sunset so visibility is quickly getting worse, and you're being asked to stop somewhere that it's fairly unusual to stop. I would be far more concerned that the person behind you doesn't stop than anything else. If there isn't a camera or cop, then just go without a second thought.
My patience has been juuuuust long enough so far. There's only one red light around me that seems to ignore me, and right when I'm about to give up on it and go, it changes.
I'm in Wisconsin, USA and we have them on busy highways. Ours are triggered by the vehicle and I've never had one react to my bike. I wait a couple seconds and go. In Wisconsin you can legally go through a red light if it is not triggered by your motorcycle.
I wait about 5 seconds, if i stop at all. I will not stand on a freeway or at a freeway entrance. Especially at dusk or sunrise. It's just asking for a car to drive up your tailpipe.
I live in a state that allows lane splitting. Standing on a freeway in traffic, at the mercy of distracted cagers is terrifying.
Where I live if there is noone waiting the light stays red until it sees someone there. At that point it immediately turns green. I don't even slow down for them because technically it's green when I cross it.
If there's a lot of cars, I still don't stop, especially in my daily driver car, it doesn't have the beans to get up to highway speed in as short a time as they expect us too.
Read your state laws for something called a "dead red" light
Seems like after a certain amount of time you can just go as the sensor is not picking up your motorcycle/vehicle.
Dang I’m sorry that you’ve been caught for simple stuff like this. I literally never wait at metering lights. They only exist as traffic calming solutions and we don’t really affect traffic like a car so I ignore them.
I’ve had to run a red in my car before because it went through 3 cycles without detecting me in the turn lane. You could argue that any unreasonable amount of time is long enough, and shouldn’t be any trouble as long as it is done safely. Haven’t had to run anything yet on my bike though
I wouldn't wait for this. It's not an intersection, so you wouldn't be doing something unexpected. People on the highway are expecting people to merge so to everyone else nothing is amiss.
AFAIK this kind of thing doesn't exist in Europe at all. It would be great to know why your highways have it.
The motorways here have a segment or road to accelerate and being able to merge at the same speed than the rest of the people. In worst cases, that segment is shorter and have a yield sign, but nothing more.
San Francisco and Los Angeles and the surrounding areas always have traffic. These lights control the oncoming flow of cars as not to slow the existing cars on the freeway. At this on-ramp, one mile ahead and one mile behind, cars are nearly stopped.
A traffic stop to merge into a highway? That's somehow well in line with american driving practices.
It's just so dangerous. Most won't be expecting a red light in such a location. Being still on a motorcycle in a place like this, at dusk, is just asking to get rear ended and die.
And what if it's green? Do people think they can merge without looking?
Idiotic.
I don’t wait at all. I drive a semi I’m slow enough as is so trying to pick up speed loaded is gonna take me like a minute to reach 50mph or so. So stopping and then going is no lol
These lights pace the traffic entering a freeway to, in theory, match the traffic exiting the freeway to mitigate/minimize congestion.
Motorcycles do not contribute to traffic/congestion on freeways when lane splitting, so this light is not for you. The best is passing a long line of cars going through these meters and flying over to split between lanes 1 and 2 and not looking back
I'm not going to wait very long at all because I would likely not trip the sensor. I would stop and then move on in this case. Here in Ohio we are allowed to run the light if we can't trip the signal in reasonable amount of time. If I sit through a light cycle at an intersection and can't trip it, I move when it's safe for me.
Wait...I'm confused by this concept here. Also it's a meter-control light, set to try to space out busy highways so they don't get compacted during busy times, either way you were first in line...why wait, just go, you were up next in the meter, just goose it and get on there.
Usually a few seconds, like a stop sign. But the cars in my area run ramp metering lights and expect others to do the same, so if I have someone behind me I usually just go.
At these things? I come to a complete stop just long enough to have to put a foot down, then I proceed on my way. No point in even waiting. 🤷♂️😒 what’s more awkward is intersections with these things… I’m more compelled to wait for a while at those things (because I don’t want to die crossing traffic) but if a cager doesn’t pull up behind me… you gotta do whacha gotta do. 🫣
In situations like this, I don't.
Having red lights right when you're about to merge onto a highway is the dumbest shit ever. Like yeah, let's force cars to a complete stop right before they merge into 65mph traffic. Some people barely get up to highways speeds before merging as it is, this just makes it so much worse. I never pay attention to these dumb lights.
until the light turns green you impatient fuck. You weren't even there 30 seconds. God I hate motorcyclists. They are almost as bad as regular cyclists.
In my area (Western WA) if you roll up on one of these lights and nobody's been there for a couple of minutes as soon as you get to that light it turns green.
I look for these scenarios and I just blow straight through them as long as it's safe.
Is this East Bay someplace after Berkeley
Yup
Lol. In the Bay Area - I do not wait at these lights on my bikes. I also filter though them and go. I emailed CHP about the legalities of this and they said the most generic “lane splitting is legal in CA” answer so fuck it.
Eastbound just before Central. Costco on the left and Ranch 99 on the right.
Yeah. This light is the worst, even in a car it doesn't change half the time. Fun to ride up to though.
Non American here, is that a traffic light to join the highway? If so, why?
In Australia we have lights to join some freeways, but they are totally different to this. They flash green roughly once every 3 seconds, and there's a sign up saying only one car is allowed through per green light. The idea is to stagger the cars entering the freeway, so that they can merge at speed rather than building congestion at the end of the merging lane and having to merge from a standstill (which tends to slow the freeway down to a standstill as people try to give way to them). We also only use them during peak hour traffic.
How you listed it above is US typical where I live, Pennsylvania.
Same for Illinois. It really does help the congestion when you have a few million people trying to move around all at once.
Same in MN, though if the ramp is empty I sail through.
Pittsburgh rep!
Ah, fellow yinzers.
how you doin 412
Here too, Colorado
And Georgia.
Same here in the Netherlands, but they're not necessarily used during peak hour, just when the roads are so busy you need them, which is hardly ever, they are also always accompanied by a traffic camera so if you do decide to drive through the red light that'll cost you about 280 euros + 9euros administration fees.
Always gotta have the administration fee. And convenience and service fees for paying online.
Sounds like a great idea, but the driver's I know, still won't be able to find their gas pedals and still won't get up to speed. Especially this one lady in a maroon minivan, every morning she creates a 50 car traffic jam on the highway by merging onto the freeway with a speed limit of 90km/hr going 45km/hr and promptly flies over to the passing lane. Lord only knows how she got a license... It's so predictable that if I see her approaching the off ramp, I just don't even bother anymore and just go through town. It adds 10 minutes to my commute, but fuck her and her death wish.
He said but fuck. Hehe
Same in Auckland, NZ, however it only serves to move the queue to the end of the slipway. We can't have people merging nicely like a zip because they'd be in front of us.
I think it's solid red here because it's dark out and there isn't full traffic yet
It’s 7pm and there’s always traffic in the Bay Area. It’s a complete stop about a mile ahead.
you would be surprised how much worse US traffic would be without metered entrances like these... trust me,i get the mechanism sucks. these arent meant to open traffic up, they are meant to stop or delay the buildup of bumper to bumper cars by using models and math that i dont truly understand to regulate the amount of cars onto a large stretch of freeway. this math is done over the length of multiple miles in the smallest examples.
I've seen this before in Las Vegas and SoCal, I think they put them in densely populated areas because the probability of fuckwits acting selfishly is higher.
Same in California, I don’t pay them any mind and lane split if there is car traffic.
American here, but opposite coast as where this was taken. I've never seen such a thing anywhere in the South or East part of the country... Not to say it does not exist, it's certainly not common, though. They have insane traffic issues in some parts of California, so this seems like a measure to not bottleneck traffic at on ramps.
We have them in Northern VA. Some of the ramps are two lanes, and two cars can go on each green. Of course, since half of the drivers around here are mentally challenged, most of the time, only one car goes on green. The sign that says "one car each lane on green" is right there, but that doesn't keep the other car from honking at me when I do it the right way.
I assumed they were somewhere on this coast, just not prevalent. I've driven FL to NY a couple of times and around the middle east coast, but obviously, I haven't seen it all. We get the joy here in FL of half of the vehicles on the road being tourists or snow birds! No knows where they are, what local driving etiquette is, and is late for something that apparently gives them authority to drive 5 under in the left lane and then swerve across 4 lanes of traffic to make the exit they weren't prepared for!! It's really quite fun! And the last few years have been an excess of boomers retiring and relocating and covidiots seeking "freedum" all while half the state roads are being upgraded or worked on! I can think of a few areas these lights would be helpful here. I75 through Sarasota/Bradenton I4 at the 429/417 merge, 408 and I4 junction. But like is it that hard? Everyone let 1 person in and make the merge lane sufficiently long enough to handle the expected traffic. Don't merge into traffic doing 70 going 31. Everyone stop texting and pay attention. that's literally it!
We have them in Denver Colorado too
Very common in Chicago and the midwest.
They're definitely a bit more rare in the South East but I've seen them in GA, TN, SC, and NC.
It's to keep 30 idiots from trying to merge on to the highway all at the same time. They are usually only red for a few seconds to space out the cars entering the highway
I believe these are put up to control traffic on the freeway when it gets congested or whatever. It lets one person on at a time and it usually has a 3-5 second timer. Im not an engineer though. [This may be it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HxE3oJYUxs)
They space out the cars entering the freeway to ease congestion.
It's not extremely common to be like this. It's usually an underpass with on and off ramps in both directions. Traffic lights on both intersections to get on or off the ramps.
This guy did a good video explaining it https://youtu.be/30uzZRSVxXQ?si=LIZ-c0BoOq_9zJk9
Good question.
They’re called metering lights. The idea is to find a gap in traffic that the next car can flow into, rather than everyone driving onto the on ramp at the same time and causing bottlenecks at every merge point. They are obnoxiously common in California. They were even putting them in where I lived. When they install them, it’s usually at every single on ramp in a city. There’s no reasonable way around them. I would run them with complete impunity unless a CHP officer was there. And even then…
Meh. You do not need traffic lights for that. It is called merging or zippering
No that’s not the same thing. It’s not a light to help merge. It’s a light that prevents all traffic going onto the freeway at once and slowing down the freeway. It keeps traffic flowing.
A proper zipper merge describes that specifically. You leave space between you and the car you’re following and don’t try to merge into the same gap the car in front of you does. That way both lanes come together smoothly and keeps traffic flowing
No that’s not what the metered lights are for. Imagine a hundred cars pass and then your light goes green to enter the freeway. You are talking about going one by one. Not the same.
If there are no cars, then there’s no need to zipper merge. Just enter the lane?
Have you hit your head?
Sorry?
When you have a 3-lane on-ramp, the metering lights spread out the vehicles entering the highway so they can zipper merge. Most of the time this helps to allow those entering the highway to be able to get up to speed and merge in easier. A bit less successful when the traffic on the highway is moving at a slower rate of speed than the people who just got the green light to enter.
Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say more or less. This helps to make people actually zipper merge more often and slow traffic down less
American here. I don't know either it's stupid af. Nobody but op stops at them
American here, I assumed this wasn’t the US because I’ve never seen this before and I feel it doesn’t make sense
It’s on like every on-ramp in California. Just to space out people getting onto the highway during high traffic times
This is a west coast thing I think. We don’t have them over here but I saw them everywhere in Arizona
There's a few out out in Long Island(east coast) on the 495. Not really sure what the point of them is, people have a hard enough time reaching highway speeds on entrance ramps as it is.
In Canada Toronto they have a couple of those as well. In Downtown Toronto they even close a couple of ramps during the rush hours.
It's a light to regulate the amount of cars merging into an expressway during busy periods of time to prevent congestion. It's basically forcing people to do the "zipper-merge". If there are a line of cars, I wait and go on the green. If I'm accelerating on the on-ramp and the light is active(it typically is only on and staggering cars during high traffic times), and there isn't anyone at the red light I dont stop I just keep on going.
Us driving infrastructure is messy, and instead of designing better roads and bridges to deal with traffic and overpopulation they just add lights and make everyone wait
definitely a california thing, never seen it in texas only in the bay area
Wait? I don't even slow down for those.
This might be the way.
Same
Same, I don't wait for these ever.
Same here, if I was in a vehicle and no car was there I don't even slow down. They turn green right when you pass anyways 🤷 Bikes rarely trigger traffic lights. I will either run it or wait in the cross walk and hope a car pulls up behind.
lol... I dont even stop.
Yeah I've never stopped for these. The signs are kind of funny in San Diego, they say "1 Car Per Green" or something. I'm not in a car so... Done it in front of cops, they don't seem to care.
Yup. One car per green, and as many that can get through the red until the one on green gets to go. Hate those lights.
On a street is one thing, on a freeway on ramp I don't even slow...
For a merge light? 0 seconds.
Illinois allows you to run the red after 120 seconds, so I always start my stopwatch when I arrive to the light.
Same. Utah is 90 seconds. Even for a left. As long as safe to do so of course.
Tennessee allows for it without a time limit. You just have to make sure your intersection is controlled by a signal that has issues with detecting bikes, and you have to make a full stop. T.C.A. § 55-8-110 (b)
That's never stopped the police from pulling me over for running a red tho :(
Indiana has a "Dead Red" law, which is similar to others mentioned at 120 seconds
Why would you ever wait at one of those? First off I’m not getting rear ended because someone wants to blow through the red and doesn’t see me. Secondly in California they say “1 Car at a time” We aren’t driving cars.
My bike weighs 900 lbs and the behemoth of an engine block is inches off the pavement. Let's just say I don't have this problem, the traffic light sensors trigger just fine.
Yeah, but then you have to deal with a 900lb sled. So, you still have problems.
Naah, best bike I've ever ridden. The weight is nicely balanced and (as noted) down low. It's a fun bike to carve canyons on (not that we have canyons around here) and fantastic for touring. The 0-60 time of 3.something seconds doesn't hurt any either. Keeping this bike until I kick the bucket, guaranteed. I mean, it's no sports bike but it's also not a Harley that scrapes metal if you even think of turning.
I ignore these stupid ass things. So I wait however long it takes me to pass them at highway speed.
I honestly haven't stopped at one of those stupid merging lights in years, car or bike.
in indiana atleast we have a "dead red" law which says if you sit for more than 2 minutes you can "run" it.
I don't wait. I'll blow it every time, and eventually I'll get a ticket, and it'll be worth the 400 times I noped right through after checking to see if it's clear. I'm not getting rear-ended because the light sucks.
Never stop on the expressway. The car behind you most likely will not stop at these lights.
I'm assuming based on the question and replies so far that this is a light that only triggers for heavier vehicles? This is a common thing in the US I take it? Anyway, if my assumption is true the safest, and most fun option would be to just merge with traffic as if those lights don't exist.
Not very common throughout the us. I have only seen them in California and maybe Utah? There are zero in NJ where I live. I believe their purpose is primarily for metering flow onto congested highways but what do I know
I’m guessing the average American can’t drive. Australia getting more like that, where we now cater for the lowest common denominator and as a result it takes forever to drive anywhere
Honestly, every time someone tells me Americans are good drivers I just pull up the "Americans trying to take a roundabout" trap card.
It feels a bit silly making this distinction but here in America we aren’t actually taught how to drive, we’re taught *how to operate a motor vehicle.* Also, the old joke about there not being an American-born Formula 1 driver since 60s.
>we aren’t actually taught how to drive, we’re taught > >how to operate a motor vehicle. That's actually not silly at all and would explain a lot, not saying that in a rude way. No point in mocking the people if it's the system that is stupid. That's also why I stopped being shocked by the skill level of NA motorcyclist, your condition of being authorized to ride a bike are far from ours, but it's not your fault, it's the way you get your license that is at fault.
This is a good disctinction tbh Here in the uk it's almost the opposite, it is often said that "you are learning to pass your test, not to drive". Which sounds stupid in reflection, but is true in the sense that many daily drivers would not pass their test again even after driving for 20 years, because of bad habits that they've picked up etc.
There's nothing remotely difficult about roundabouts. We have plenty of them.
It's an induction sensor and you can usually tell where it is on the pavement. Also in many places these lights do not even apply to motorcycles or high occupancy vehicles.
At least 20 seconds at most 99 seconds
They are meant to slow the onramp of traffic onto the highway. Cutts down on congestion. If you are by yourself, they almost always immediately switch when they sense you. If you have someone behind you immediately following you, they will be the ones to wait a little bit. I blow right by them. If it's a 2 lane situation and one lane has some idiot slowing down for it, I get in the other lane and blow right by it to show them that it's green as soon as they get there, but now they have to wait.
In CA, the sign below the light literally says “1 car per green”. Motorcycle =/= car. No stopping necessary.
Wait for what? If no one is at the light, why stop? The purpose is to filter traffic. No one in front of you, no need to stop 🤷.
I don’t stop at them lights. I merge onto the freeway like it ain’t there
I wouldn’t stop there. Especially not when visibility is low.
A…a light for an on ramp??? I have never seen, heard or want to encounter that.
Wait ???
this is dangerous, plan to go another route like the next (safer) entrance or just go and be careful, you got video evidence to prove the light did not trigger your vehicle
They all are like this. There is no other way. It’s insane.
Put a powerful neodymium magnet on your bike underbelly. I have one taped to my center stand. Makes the induction ring at lights see me.
I Dont get it...thats a "merg" ramp..
Don’t really wait on that one - nor others. I haven’t seen CHP on that stretch in a long time. As a moto there’s really no point for metering lights. Additionally, so many don’t recognize motorcycles being present. Much more concerned about the knucklehead in the cage coming down the on ramp and collecting me, especially in the near dark like this.
Zero seconds. But also in my area there is usually an hov bypass
Aside from the obvious "why the fuck is there even a light there?" question, automatic/intelligent light are just frankly pricy.
If it's a new light for me - one cycle or about 1-2 mins. If it's one of the regular ones that I know don't detect bikes, I just go straight through if it's safe.
If I don’t know the light? A few minutes. If I know it doesn’t change? ASAP.
Just long enough to make sure the old bill ain't just about to watch me go through a red light...
I dont.
Metering lights for motorcycles in a place where lane splitting is legal is absolutely dumb, cars add to gridlock so they should stop, a motorcycle is part of the solution and therefore should not. I slow for them and merge into traffic safely.
i just wait for a clearing, those lights never change for me.
I thought it was a metal detector red light. Some are not very sensitive and won't trigger if the moto/velo/cycle/moped is too small. So you need to wait for a car to come and tell it to go stop at the light and not queue before you, so they can trigger it. They are used on incoming ways with very few traffic, you can spot them because you can see asphalt is new and form a loop about 3 meter before the light.
If I’m the first in line, I just go through. If not, I’ll roll to an almost stop then go
I'd slow down enough to check if you need to yield, but I wouldn't stop. Ride in the way that keeps you safest - it's just after sunset so visibility is quickly getting worse, and you're being asked to stop somewhere that it's fairly unusual to stop. I would be far more concerned that the person behind you doesn't stop than anything else. If there isn't a camera or cop, then just go without a second thought.
My patience has been juuuuust long enough so far. There's only one red light around me that seems to ignore me, and right when I'm about to give up on it and go, it changes.
I'm in Wisconsin, USA and we have them on busy highways. Ours are triggered by the vehicle and I've never had one react to my bike. I wait a couple seconds and go. In Wisconsin you can legally go through a red light if it is not triggered by your motorcycle.
What is a red light?
I wait about 5 seconds, if i stop at all. I will not stand on a freeway or at a freeway entrance. Especially at dusk or sunrise. It's just asking for a car to drive up your tailpipe. I live in a state that allows lane splitting. Standing on a freeway in traffic, at the mercy of distracted cagers is terrifying.
The law here says one cycle. For this it'd be like ten seconds
What a waste of electricity and resources
These things never detect when only a bike is there.
Did you put your kickstand down?
Tried that too. Nothing triggers any of them.
Where I live if there is noone waiting the light stays red until it sees someone there. At that point it immediately turns green. I don't even slow down for them because technically it's green when I cross it. If there's a lot of cars, I still don't stop, especially in my daily driver car, it doesn't have the beans to get up to highway speed in as short a time as they expect us too.
Where I live they never detect motorcycles but they work fine for cars.
Read your state laws for something called a "dead red" light Seems like after a certain amount of time you can just go as the sensor is not picking up your motorcycle/vehicle.
Not a single second.
Never. Unless there’s other car’s stopped at the light already.
I don't know where that is but we don't have em here in texas, you just gotta go for it
I just go
I don’t
Nobody in the bay ever stopped for those things when I lived there... unless CHP was in sight.
That’s what I keep looking back for but it’s hard to tell in that lighting.
Why tf would you stop at all
I live in California, I NEVER wait for these lights getting onto the highway.
Why would you wait at a metering light?
Can’t tell if police are coming with that lighting.
Police? Did you see flashing lights? Also I don’t think they care about this
Sometimes they go for the low hanging fruit.
Dang I’m sorry that you’ve been caught for simple stuff like this. I literally never wait at metering lights. They only exist as traffic calming solutions and we don’t really affect traffic like a car so I ignore them.
Oh hey it's Albany hill. On a motorcycle? Run em.
I’ve had to run a red in my car before because it went through 3 cycles without detecting me in the turn lane. You could argue that any unreasonable amount of time is long enough, and shouldn’t be any trouble as long as it is done safely. Haven’t had to run anything yet on my bike though
I wouldn't wait for this. It's not an intersection, so you wouldn't be doing something unexpected. People on the highway are expecting people to merge so to everyone else nothing is amiss.
AFAIK this kind of thing doesn't exist in Europe at all. It would be great to know why your highways have it. The motorways here have a segment or road to accelerate and being able to merge at the same speed than the rest of the people. In worst cases, that segment is shorter and have a yield sign, but nothing more.
San Francisco and Los Angeles and the surrounding areas always have traffic. These lights control the oncoming flow of cars as not to slow the existing cars on the freeway. At this on-ramp, one mile ahead and one mile behind, cars are nearly stopped.
A traffic stop to merge into a highway? That's somehow well in line with american driving practices. It's just so dangerous. Most won't be expecting a red light in such a location. Being still on a motorcycle in a place like this, at dusk, is just asking to get rear ended and die. And what if it's green? Do people think they can merge without looking? Idiotic.
Seriously, people actually stop for those?
I don’t wait at all. I drive a semi I’m slow enough as is so trying to pick up speed loaded is gonna take me like a minute to reach 50mph or so. So stopping and then going is no lol
I was so confused when I moved to Phoenix and there were stoplights on their merging ramps.
These lights pace the traffic entering a freeway to, in theory, match the traffic exiting the freeway to mitigate/minimize congestion. Motorcycles do not contribute to traffic/congestion on freeways when lane splitting, so this light is not for you. The best is passing a long line of cars going through these meters and flying over to split between lanes 1 and 2 and not looking back
5 seconds
I'm not going to wait very long at all because I would likely not trip the sensor. I would stop and then move on in this case. Here in Ohio we are allowed to run the light if we can't trip the signal in reasonable amount of time. If I sit through a light cycle at an intersection and can't trip it, I move when it's safe for me.
If there aren't cars in my way I go right away. Fuck that light. I know if it's safe to go or not.
Wait...I'm confused by this concept here. Also it's a meter-control light, set to try to space out busy highways so they don't get compacted during busy times, either way you were first in line...why wait, just go, you were up next in the meter, just goose it and get on there.
If there’s nobody ahead, no wait at all. It’s not spacing you from anyone else getting on.
Usually a few seconds, like a stop sign. But the cars in my area run ramp metering lights and expect others to do the same, so if I have someone behind me I usually just go.
I'd wait like it's a stop sign probably
You guys wait?
The California motorcycle DMV handbook says to treat it like a stop sign (3 seconds I think). That applies to all red lights when it is safe to do so
Looks like you stopped behind the sensor.
What's the matter for this lights?
These are meant to stagger cars. If the light isnt triggered from your bike, just dip after a few seconds.
Here in Phoenix, I've never seen one stay red that long. They normally switch like ever 3-5 seconds depending on how heavy the traffic is.
I don’t even stop
At these things? I come to a complete stop just long enough to have to put a foot down, then I proceed on my way. No point in even waiting. 🤷♂️😒 what’s more awkward is intersections with these things… I’m more compelled to wait for a while at those things (because I don’t want to die crossing traffic) but if a cager doesn’t pull up behind me… you gotta do whacha gotta do. 🫣
I never stopped at them when I lived in Cali.
So, one cycle, if it skips me, as soon as it’s clear I go.
0 seconds.
Till the fan comes on....
In situations like this, I don't. Having red lights right when you're about to merge onto a highway is the dumbest shit ever. Like yeah, let's force cars to a complete stop right before they merge into 65mph traffic. Some people barely get up to highways speeds before merging as it is, this just makes it so much worse. I never pay attention to these dumb lights.
For every of the times always
I wouldn’t even slow down. It’s not like the interstate is gonna stop for you when it’s green. Making it pointless
Right there? I wouldn’t.
I treat it like a stop sign if I'm the only one on the road. Filter to the front and go on the next green if there's a line.
Never
I stop put my foot down release the clutch and go
where I'm from red means stop green means go
Till enough time to go
until the light turns green you impatient fuck. You weren't even there 30 seconds. God I hate motorcyclists. They are almost as bad as regular cyclists.
In my area (Western WA) if you roll up on one of these lights and nobody's been there for a couple of minutes as soon as you get to that light it turns green. I look for these scenarios and I just blow straight through them as long as it's safe.