Snippets about Lake Tahoe
• When motorcycle and bicycle riders are stopped at a traffic signal, they may be unable to trigger a green light to proceed. Starting Oct. 1 in Nevada, if cyclists have waited for two traffic light cycles, they may legally move through the intersection on red, but only after safely yielding to pedestrians and other traffic.
• A federal appeals court ruled that New Jersey cannot legalize sports gambling.
• The seventh annual Poker Run to benefit Austin’s House raised nearly $10,000 to help local children in crisis.
• El Dorado County Elections Department will be observing National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 24 by setting up tables and chairs outside Building C in Placerville to register people or people may do so online.
• South Lake Tahoe’s dog agility equipment at Bijou Dog Park will be unveiled Sept. 22 at 1pm.
Motorcyclists are now permitted to “move through” red lights? Sounds like the mortuary lobbyists influenced this law. Stupidest law on the books.
Good luck with that
That’s one more light cycle than I would wait when I was riding motorcycles and couldn’t trigger a light. I’d be nervous about doing it on a bicycle, though – not much acceleration there. It’s safer to go push the pedestrian button – rumors about their lack of function to the contrary notwithstanding, they also trigger the lights.
California has a law on it, a bit different than the upcoming Nevada one.
Lauren apparently hasn’t thought-it-through what happens when a motorcyclist is at a signal light and the light isn’t triggered by the bike (all types of these underground triggering loops, etc., are ADJUSTABLE for sensitivity, and a call to whatever highway or road department has jurisdiction will usually get reasonably prompt attention to the problem).
Let’s say a motorcyclist wants to turn left from the left lane. Is the biker supposed to get off the bike, walk across the street, to a button? Most intersections don’t have buttons. Is the motorcyclist supposed to turn around and ride the wrong way?…yeah, THAT would be stupid.
Many a biker has gotten citations for stopping, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then proceeding. The new law, and California’s too, simply recognizes that, and allows proceeding WHEN SAFE TO DO SO.
There will always be idiots, of course. They usually eventually get weeded-out of the genetic pool.
Motorcyclists have real problems in other areas…car drivers who are texting; or not paying attention to their surroundings; or their eyes see the biker, but brain does not register that. Motorcyclists are allowed to have blinking headlights (“modulators”) by Federal and State Laws. If you see one with a regular interval blinking headlight, that’s what is going on. They are a considerable help in preventing left-turning motorists from causing accidents.
Too many motorcyclists…mostly Harley riders….take the stock exhaust pipes off practically the day they purchase the bike….loud noises irritate the heck out of car drivers (which I am)(and I am also a very long time motorcyclist…about a million miles now). Motorcyclists need to clean up their act…no high speed darting-about, no loud pipes (they do NOT ‘save lives’, the mantra of those with loud pipes).
ah, well, plenty of blame, etc., to go around these days.
A carbon fiber bicycle does not have enough metal in it to trigger the loops even at their lowest sensitivity. The key factor to all of this is not acceleration, whether or not the light senses bicycles or pedestrian buttons, but a thing called common sense. Is the intersection safe and clear of traffic? If it is, I am blowing off the traffic light and proceeding. You will not ever get a citation for this because part of that common sense deems that one should also look for the police as well.
There has been great success with increasing traffic safety by getting rid of traffic controls all together in some European cities. Everyone slows down and pays attention at every intersection knowing that there is always the non-attentive driver to be avoided.
Thanks Bob; you went into detail that I should have, but am clearly not as current on as you. I rode for about 30 years, often putting in 600+ mile days, and loved every minute of it. I strongly believed that motorcycle riding was a skill that needed both training and constant polishing, and staying alive while riding often meant riding aggressively rather than passively. I eventually had to acknowledge that age was slowing me down and I had to set aside two of the greatest pleasures of my life, one of them being motorcycling.
During the part of my life that I was actually enforcing laws and citing folks into the court system, I would never have cited a motorcyclist (or any motorist, for that matter) for a violation that was justified by simple good sense.
Unfortunately there are many cops out there who have more police experience that real life experience, and it often shows in their judgment. But that’s another topic.
Bravo, Nevada. A common sense law that will enhance safety overall and is long overdue. Reasonable, safety-conscious motorists can only hope California is not far behind.
That is why I want to live in Nevada. Right on Bob about loud obnoxious pipes and total lack of enforcement by the gendarmes. Many,many years ago in Ashtabula, OH I thought a Mack truck was about to run me over from behind and lo and behold it was just a Harley with straight throughs.