LECTURES AND DISCUSSIONS ON SPACE IN AND AROUND OAKLAND CALIFORNIA
20110410
Pushing Buttons
Why is it that in Oakland, that if you want to cross a street and you are driving you just pull up and wait, but if you are walking, you have to push a button?
Even worse, most loop detectors which pick up cars at intersections aren't calibrated to properly pick up bicycle wheels. That means a bicyclist will have to go up on to the sidewalk to push the walk button and then go back into the street again. It's a very awkward operation.
There is state legislation requiring all loop detectors to pick up bicycle wheels, but loop detectors already in place are grandfathered in. Only during a major resurfacing project are new loop detectors put in, and even then a lot of DPW's forget to recalibrate the loops.
This is something that has bothered me since I started running several years ago. If I miss my opportunity to press the button at the right time in the cycle, I have to wait through several additional traffic light cycles. I often feel like Don Quixote when moaning about this issue to other urban planners and transportation types. -JStott
Oakland Space Academy features lectures and discussions on space in and around Oakland California. To suggest a topic for further study, email oakland.space.academy @gmail.com.
Why is it that in Oakland, that if you want to cross a street and you are driving you just pull up and wait, but if you are walking, you have to push a button?
4 comments:
Even worse, most loop detectors which pick up cars at intersections aren't calibrated to properly pick up bicycle wheels. That means a bicyclist will have to go up on to the sidewalk to push the walk button and then go back into the street again. It's a very awkward operation.
There is state legislation requiring all loop detectors to pick up bicycle wheels, but loop detectors already in place are grandfathered in. Only during a major resurfacing project are new loop detectors put in, and even then a lot of DPW's forget to recalibrate the loops.
bicyclists stop at stoplights?
This is something that has bothered me since I started running several years ago. If I miss my opportunity to press the button at the right time in the cycle, I have to wait through several additional traffic light cycles. I often feel like Don Quixote when moaning about this issue to other urban planners and transportation types.
-JStott
Anonymous,
Some bicyclists do stop at lights, but they shouldn't. See my post on the Idaho Stop from 2009 Arpil.
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