Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Scooter Lesson No. 1
They say that when you ride a motorcycle you should pay very careful attention and anticipate what each car around you may do and be ready to act. The problem that makes this so is that "the people in the cars are NEVER looking for you and therefore never SEE you." I found out today that a far more annoying party cannot see me: Traffic lights. You may or may not be aware that most traffic lights are not on a regular pattern, instead they look for traffic in each lane in order to determine who gets what signal and for how long. I don't know if this is done by weight or by magnetic detection or what. But whatever is required to "be detected" I don't possess on my scooter. I sat at a light through two cycles last night without getting a green because I was the only one wanting to go straight in my lane. Today I didn't get a protected left turn (where I always get one in my car) because there "wasn't anyone" in my lane wanting to turn left. As far as the traffic lights in Green Hills are concerned, I and my scooter just aren't there.
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8 comments:
That's unfortunate. Maybe you should start eating a few more brownies for dessert?
Sometimes you have to sacrifice, right?
Don't do it. I have more girth to my person and ride and still get whipped by getting no love from the light sensor.
It's not just a Tennessee problem, affecting even God's country.
In the interest of maintaining my girlish figure, I'll take your advice Gunny.
My cop friend says it is actually a motion sensor, so that it might be a height issue.
Mike
Maybe, Mike, but I am actually taller on my scooter than most passenger cars, so I'm not sure how that would work. But thanks for rounding this conversation out. Now I'm either too skinny or too short. :^)
Ha ha!
I stand corrected. I was informed by Ben that while many big cities use cameras that are motion sensitive AND also detect changes in the scene on the camera to change the light, most lights in less technologically advanced cities are still based on pressure sensors. So you need a couple of more donuts with breakfast.
Mike
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