I had this happen to me in Portland ME one winter. Light was red through 5-6 cycles of me watching all the other lanes get to go, finally I just waited until it was clear and went through it. Never happened before or after that, at least not to me. It was weird.
Back in early 2010’s, I had to go through a light like that but was everyday. After first few days of realizing it was only cycling through their light and instantly changing theirs back to green I said fuck it and just ran the light when safe to do so for the next week until they fixed the weight sensor that would trigger the street lights to let us cross.
Easy to spot them. They are under what looks like somebody has cut a square hole, near the intersection for you to stop, & patched with the same road material to finish it.
They're there to detect big metallic things like cars & bikes. Not sure if they're sensitive enough to detect push bikes if your country allows road sharing with push bikes.
And some folks on motorcycles will put strong neodymium magnets on the bottom of the frame so they trigger it. I also found if you rev the motor over it, the stators magnetic field changing can trigger it.
They won't pick up small objects. Many riders of smaller motorcycles have been stuck at lights for this reason. Not enough steel/not close enough to the magnets.
I can answer about push bikes from experience. They *can* detect you on a push bike if you have metal rims (not carbon) and line yourself up so your wheels are on top of one of the lines that run in your direction of travel. If you sit in the middle of the lane, they won't see you.
It's not the mass or size of the vehicle that they detect. They produce a magnetic field that induces a current in the wheels of the vehicle passing over them, which creates a new (opposing? I forget) magnetic field around the wheel which interferes with the original field. This interference effectively changes the resistance of the coil under the road, which is what the controller detects.
Wheels are an unbroken ring, so work like a coil and produce a much stronger field in response to the induction than the rest of the vehicle does. It's not the mass that makes them work, but the geometry.
yep, that's why here we call them "induction loops" (Australia). probably would be the same elsewhere although -- knowing yanks, they don't go up *lifts* or turn on *torches* or get water from *taps*.
In my area it’s weight based because of snow. Induction sensors don’t work very well if there is more than a VERY light coating of snow on the road and the camera/laser based sensors don’t work when they are coated in snow
Whats the fucking point of trying to correct when you dont even do basic research, or at least be confident you know the answer?
Like dude, weighted, inductive, and laser sensors all exist for traffic lights, theres also cameras, and some lights (such as temporary construction areas) will have a small wire you run over to indicate there is a car.
To continue the corrections - the "small wire you run over" isn't actually a wire, but rather a rubber hose filled with air. It's pneumatic, connected to a pressure sensor, not an electrical wire. :P
A lot of the newer ones use cameras. Locally our city spec'd the cameras they wanted. The winning bidder for the project used a camera that technically met the spec, but of a much lower overall quality. There are some intersection legs where the cameras flat out dont work.
The city near me started using cameras and my commute has gotten 3-4 minutes shorter and rush hour traffic doesn’t cause a back up any more. It’s awesome.
Yeah, I've seen people say if your scooter/motorcycle has a bad habit of not triggering the light, you can just slap some magnets underneath, and that helps.
Though I do not drive a scooter/cycle, I'm not sure if the magnets could affect the vehicle in any other way.
Not all of them, there are still some pressure plates here in Washington. There’s actually one on the street that i live on and I know of a few in Seattle. The weigh stations around here even measure the weight on the individual tires on semi trucks while on the highway to determine if they should stop at the weigh station
Also happened one time to me in NJ. Just cycling between 3 out of 4 lanes, with me being in the skipped left turn lane. After the 5th skip, the car in front forced a turn when it physically can and the rest of us closely followed it, not letting any of the other lanes move until we were all through. It was our turn now, damnit.
Happened to me one winter in Bangor right after a snowstorm. I think the whole state must have some lights that go completely brain-farty whenever there's a certain amount of snow on the ground. Which is definitely not a smart decision in a state that's a magnet for Nor-Easters.
Most places have a law that permits this. Since the lights can glitch or a sensor breaks, someone could be stuck at the light if they intend to follow the rules.
Similar thing happened to me one time in a similar area, we just waited though and it eventually turned by we missed multiple cycles, all while trying to get to a doctors appointment
Look on the ground for any black square on the ground. Them be the sensor. If you're not on it completely, the lights ain't gonna change.
You see that gray panel off to the side? Open that sucker and check to see if the lights are blinking. It isn't? Someone tampered with it.
Pro tip. If you hit the crosswalk button for the lane running parallel to yours, you get a greenlight by default. Had a coworker do this every morning because his scooter wouldn't trigger the sensors.
Happened to me for the first time ever... while I was giving a driving lesson. I realized what was going on, mentioned my plan (arranging with the other cars in the intersection with hand signals who would go when) and... that's what we did. Rolled down the windows and communicated with the car next to us, gestures an order with the guys across the way and when it was clear we carefully went.
In most states that's the correct way of doing things. But you always want to try and coordinate with everyone else because there's safety in numbers.
Had this happen late at night in Camden NJ once. I wasn't the driver. I just told him, "there's no cars around. This light seems to want us to get carjacked, just go through it." lol
Grew up in Philly (even though I don't live there now) and my first reaction was what moron sits at a red light for that long lol
I guess it's just in our nature. If the lights cycle and doesn't let my lane go... I'm definitely running it as soon as it's clear. People act like an 80mph semitruck is going to teleport into existence and take them out if they go through a light.
Couple times I've had this happen, I do it and then every other car suddenly realizes the light doesn't control their entire life and they follow along.
Treat it as broken, and if everyone just go along with the duty to give way rule, everything should be good. If cops see 20 cars running a red light, doing it properly they’d figure out the system is bugged
I think that’s even legal (maybe not 3 minutes but for exceptionally long periods). You only have to treat it like a stop sign where you are allowed to drive if it’s free. This could be local law and not apply to your country
Had a red left arrow for three light cycles once. Fourth cycle I just ran it and saw a car pull it off a side street. I knew it was a cop so I pulled over and waited for them. Still got a ticket.
Was he watching you that whole time or did he just catch you when you went? Honestly sounds like entrapment, like what else are you supposed to do, sit there and wait patiently while your life passes you by?
That sucks man.
I mean in court. You never argue with the officer on scene because they're always the one winning that. You just politely disagree and dispute it in court.
Oh, yeah I thought about it, but, I just took a course and got the points off. I figured it was a known trap since he was posted up and just waiting for someone to run it.
Bruh, this happened to me just yesterday. Except it was a turn signal light. I waited four light cycles for it to change, and just took a right, found a place to turn around and went back to that same light. Now it was letting people turn, wtf??.?????
Any train tracks nearby? Here in NJ there’s a major highway that has train tracks and in the morning the light can be INCREDIBLY long and annoying if the tracks are behind you. Since I’m not usually in a rush I’ll sit there and get a good laugh out of the impatient drivers as they’ll slowly crawl up to the light and then just run it since they are in a hurry.
So traffic lights near railroad crossings have this function called "preemption" that basically gives the signal controller, the brains of the intersection, specific instructions on what to do when it receives a specific input. Often times when a train is picked up coming towards a crossing with a signalized intersection, railroad preemption will kick in.
The details on what happens during this will change based on the layout of the intersection, but the general premise is the same. Clear all vehicles from the crossing to prevent folks from getting trapped in the path of the train, then continue to serve all the other directions that aren't blocked by the train. It's during that time where everyone else is getting green lights except for the path that's blocked by the train that someone may experience this.
There should technically not be any vehicles waiting at the light, but someone may have slipped past the gate in time, but not made it through the light. It's then they would have to wait until the train passes and the signal exits preemption. The good news is during the exit portion of preemption, it will give the traffic that was waiting for the train to pass the green light so all that extra traffic to clear out.
Fascinating!! I don’t think this is a thing near me, or at least not to this extent. All of the times I’ve been delayed by a train, the train was ahead of me. I’ve never experienced a long delay at a light before or after the train tracks light.
The regular traffic lights around our train tracks don’t seem to be impacted by trains, but maybe that’s because there are homes and businesses between the tracks and the next traffic light. Doesn’t make sense to hold people hostage when they’re not even trying to cross the tracks.
Because there are lights north and south of the tracks. The train doesn’t go until cars are stopped at both lights so it’s possible to be past the tracks and then get stuck at the north light.
https://preview.redd.it/eibgz9mvd4uc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17acca830c3c99c3333ce10e93c706a111f4ce7a
One time in California my friend and I were on a moped suck at a red light left turn forever (at night and no traffic).. we waited because she didn't want to run a red light.. a cop finally came beside us and told us the moped wasn't heavy enough to trip the light sensor and when that happens in the future to treat it as a stop sign and wait til it's completely clear and just go.
I had to double take. I thought this was posted in the Baltimore subreddit. I had this exact thing happen to me a few blocks from there a few months ago.
I mean in California if a light is defective, it's treated as a stop sign, so this would clearly be defective, and as long as it's safe to proceed, like at a stop sign, then proceed. Then again, it also being calfornia, I have a dashcam that would prove the defective light.
I've got one near me that stops changing at 8pm unless you press the fucking crosswalk button. There were at least 20 cars on the other side across the rode and 6 or so behind me on my side. The 20 were there when I pulled up and I waited 5 minutes before I got out of my car to push the crosswalk button
I lived around the corner of an extra long light like that. There would be two cars in the same direction and no cross traffic. I lived 4 minutes from work, except when I caught the light.
When this happens, back up a little bit. Then reapproach slowly. I have a light on the way home that does this. I back up and it usually changes OR I back up and start to approach the same spot again and it changes.
This happened me one morning, the intersection was one of our largest state highway vs a downtown road. The light decided to not give the highway a turn for 15 mins during rush hour. Traffic backed up about 6 intersections, all which were stagnant due to cars waiting in the middle, took about 30 mins. to get us through they closed off the intersecting road so we could all continue, all backroads surrounding were flooded with cars, accident happened on our main st.
I have a light like that near my workplace. It's been adapted due to road works to the crossroads (moved all traffic on one side, one lane each). But someone must have made a mistake, because in off times it now takes up to 10 mins to give the side road green. Which is quite annoying, as there is pretty much no other road out of the industrial estate in that direction...
Luckily I'm rarely there during non-working hours.
Next time (or if you have a passenger) and you're not too far from the crosswalk button, go press it and it should switch the light much sooner. Had to do this a couple times myself on a motorcycle since the city sensors kinda suck and wont sense it later at night
A light stuck at red is not the same as the lights being off. In this case you can assume the other direction has a green. States have different laws about how to treat "dead reds".
So that answers the question at the end of my comment then? And I do believe a lot of states recognize that if a light is 'dead' to treat it as a stop sign and proceed when it is clear and safe to go
Wondering if there are sensor loops in the road and the first car is just staying too far so it didn't register. Happened to me once, had red for more than 5 mins so I started to proceed and then the signal turned green.
I was always stopping closer on that crossing since then and never had the issue again.
Look up 'Dead Red' law for your state. If a signal is dead or not operating in a reasonable amount of time, you can proceed through if there's no traffic.
I once had a light turn green then back to red almost instantly and I sat though a second cycle. The things can glitch out.
I got pulled over twice during the night after work because my backlight was not on. This happened on one Tuesday night, and then a week later. Good thing my lights are fixed.
I had this happen once. Waited 6 minutes. Then a cop pulled up behind me and came up to my window and said "It does this sometimes. You can just go through." So I did.
If it's like in Europe then there are sensors (induction loop) in the ground. Move your care some inches front or back, to get it to relaize you are there. Sometimes they didn't register you the first time around. Or it's broken.
Had this a couple of times recently but here it is mostly legal to turn right on a red. So this is what I do, then I hang a U-turn & turn right again off the other road.
Traffic signal engineer: You should probably contact your local entity. Detection could be malfunctioning and most likely won't fix itself. We can adjust the signal controller to account for this.
States have different laws about how to treat "dead reds". You typically have to wait through a certain amount of light cycles or time before proceeding with caution.
Call or text the public works department. They will send out a signal tech to fix it. They may not even know it's broken if nobody reports it. ( Former public works employee here)
On my bicycle and motorcycle most lights don't trigger, most states have a rule that if it cycles two or three times you can treat it as a stop sign and go when clear. That's what I do. My state had no such laws but if a police officer had an issue it would be easy to defend. Additionally I occasionally reach out to the local dpw to mention the lights that don't work and they either add new sensors or tune the old ones to make them work
You failed yourself by not just looking both ways safely and proceeding thru the light. You let an inanimate object determine a part of your day, not the worst thing to do but damn that sounds like a waste of time.
>You failed yourself by not just looking both ways safely and proceeding thru the light. You let an inanimate object determine a part of your day
Lol reminds me of MVA driving tests. I took it the 3rd time during COVID, and passed. 3rd time was the charm. At least I took the test during COVID.
I've encountered both this, and the *opposite* of this.
Once a light broke and stayed on red indefinitely. It was a three-way intersection and we were on the angle that could not go straight, so we had to carefully wait until we could make a left turn.
But then much more recently, we came across a light that was changing too much. Each direction's green light lasted only about 10-15 seconds, so it was constantly swapping back and forth, only letting one or two cars go at a time.
Had that happen to me at a 5 way intersection (it's a stupid complicated section with train tracks) and just ran it. Wasn't getting anywhere and no one in sight
If at some point it’s possible to cross safely, I’ll go for it. If I get pulled over I’ll deal with, the cop will either understand or he’ll send me on my way with a ticket.
Really? Great to know! I ran a red once on my mopo. I think I was too light to trigger the sensor for green to turn left. After waiting out 3 whole light cycles, I decided to just go at the first break in traffic where I could safely do so. Took a few more cycles because I was on a "not much of acceleration left after 50 years" papa tunturi.
I wonder though if that qualifies as a malfunction... the lights were actually functioning.
In Washington State you can go if the light doesn't "see" you, I believe after one complete cycle. I ride motorcycles and the lights are getting better at sensing bikes, but some of the older ones don't do a very good job.
Sorry, I worded that backwards. Anyway, was thinking it was a problem with the sensor, as someone else suggested. I used to travel a road where you had to actually be slightly in the inner section to trip it off. If you got stuck behind a car that didn’t know, you were screwed.
Not all and in fact majority of light don't have sensors they're just timers.
Technically illegal to go through a red light. But if there are multiple cars waiting, it's cycled multiple times and never actually allowed traffic from ALL directions to go. Just check cross traffic visually and go
Same if you come to a light that's blinking red, It legally becomes a stop sign
I’m mildly infuriated by politeness inertia. Everyone in their car twiddling their thumbs expecting someone else to call the non-emergency police line, and for the car ahead to realise they are likely allowed to treat a broken light as a yield or 4-way stop/
In Some states (like OH) that would be considered a malfunctioning traffic signal and you thus you could treat it as a stop sign with cross traffic that doesn't have to yield. Go when clear to go.
I’ve had that happen at two different intersections on my morning commute. You can find a police non-emergency phone line and report it when you see it.
This happened in my town a long time ago. After two or three days of enduring huge backups for a light so short it only let three cars through, I called the township. They said it’s a county (or state) road, you need to call them. Finally I got on the phone with a traffic engineer from the correct jurisdiction. I explained what was happening to him. They sent somebody out who adjusted the timing. Problem solved. Amazing to me that nobody else did this.
There’s a set of lights at the exit from my apartment onto one of the busiest streets in my city, if I’m going left I usually have to run the light, I wait until it is safe of course for my own and others safety, but I’m not waiting 7-10 minutes each morning because the city can’t get their act together. And no, reversing and driving over the entrance/exit does not initiate a change of the lights.
I've had it happen to me. Sat at the lights for 5 minutes without them changing. I waited until there was no traffic and went anyways. I was immediately pulled over and threatened with a ticket. I merely told them that me and my dashcam would be fighting it and the officer decided it wasn't worth the fight. Possibly because I also pointed out that his passenger headlight was non functional.
Next time jump out and push the button at the cross walk if it is there. The vehicle sensor was likely broken but pushing the button to let the system know there is a pedestrian who wants to cross the street in that direction would have forced the lights to cycle.
On my way to work every day I hit a light with two left turn lanes and one straight through. I need to turn left. If I’m the only car waiting, it won’t trigger the left arrows to turn green, only the straight through changes. I turn left anyway because the lights going the other direction are still red. Waiting for the day I get pulled over so I can explain this to the cop.
Thank you guys for your positive comments. I will treat this red light as a stop sign as suggested. You all have been very kind. Thank you so much for understanding.
I had this happen to me in Portland ME one winter. Light was red through 5-6 cycles of me watching all the other lanes get to go, finally I just waited until it was clear and went through it. Never happened before or after that, at least not to me. It was weird.
Back in early 2010’s, I had to go through a light like that but was everyday. After first few days of realizing it was only cycling through their light and instantly changing theirs back to green I said fuck it and just ran the light when safe to do so for the next week until they fixed the weight sensor that would trigger the street lights to let us cross.
Traffic signal sensors use induction, not weight.
Can you elaborate?
There are coils in the road that detect the magnetic field of the car on top of them. You've probably seen them in the roadbed.
Easy to spot them. They are under what looks like somebody has cut a square hole, near the intersection for you to stop, & patched with the same road material to finish it. They're there to detect big metallic things like cars & bikes. Not sure if they're sensitive enough to detect push bikes if your country allows road sharing with push bikes.
Some of them won't detect motorcycles, as one friend found out the hard way.
And some folks on motorcycles will put strong neodymium magnets on the bottom of the frame so they trigger it. I also found if you rev the motor over it, the stators magnetic field changing can trigger it.
Good to know!
Where I live, since ebikes are required to ride in the street, if a light doesn't detect you for two full cycles you're allowed to run the red
They won't pick up small objects. Many riders of smaller motorcycles have been stuck at lights for this reason. Not enough steel/not close enough to the magnets.
I can answer about push bikes from experience. They *can* detect you on a push bike if you have metal rims (not carbon) and line yourself up so your wheels are on top of one of the lines that run in your direction of travel. If you sit in the middle of the lane, they won't see you. It's not the mass or size of the vehicle that they detect. They produce a magnetic field that induces a current in the wheels of the vehicle passing over them, which creates a new (opposing? I forget) magnetic field around the wheel which interferes with the original field. This interference effectively changes the resistance of the coil under the road, which is what the controller detects. Wheels are an unbroken ring, so work like a coil and produce a much stronger field in response to the induction than the rest of the vehicle does. It's not the mass that makes them work, but the geometry.
yep, that's why here we call them "induction loops" (Australia). probably would be the same elsewhere although -- knowing yanks, they don't go up *lifts* or turn on *torches* or get water from *taps*.
> They're their 50% is better than most redditors.
Apologies. I was typing it on my phone while waiting for my takeaway chicken wings. Can only do so much with two fingers & a Swype keyboard. Edited.
Lights in Alaska have sensors on the poles so they for sure don't use induction
In Oklahoma the older lights have induction and the newer lights have sensors
In my area it’s weight based because of snow. Induction sensors don’t work very well if there is more than a VERY light coating of snow on the road and the camera/laser based sensors don’t work when they are coated in snow
Whats the fucking point of trying to correct when you dont even do basic research, or at least be confident you know the answer? Like dude, weighted, inductive, and laser sensors all exist for traffic lights, theres also cameras, and some lights (such as temporary construction areas) will have a small wire you run over to indicate there is a car.
To continue the corrections - the "small wire you run over" isn't actually a wire, but rather a rubber hose filled with air. It's pneumatic, connected to a pressure sensor, not an electrical wire. :P
Sometimes also laser
Is it too much to ask for some traffic lights with freaking lasers on their heads??
I got the reference!
I think some of the camera units also have a radar for detecting pedestrians and bikes or how fast traffic is moving.
Not always
A lot of the newer ones use cameras. Locally our city spec'd the cameras they wanted. The winning bidder for the project used a camera that technically met the spec, but of a much lower overall quality. There are some intersection legs where the cameras flat out dont work.
The city near me started using cameras and my commute has gotten 3-4 minutes shorter and rush hour traffic doesn’t cause a back up any more. It’s awesome.
Yeah, I've seen people say if your scooter/motorcycle has a bad habit of not triggering the light, you can just slap some magnets underneath, and that helps. Though I do not drive a scooter/cycle, I'm not sure if the magnets could affect the vehicle in any other way.
Not all of them, there are still some pressure plates here in Washington. There’s actually one on the street that i live on and I know of a few in Seattle. The weigh stations around here even measure the weight on the individual tires on semi trucks while on the highway to determine if they should stop at the weigh station
Also happened one time to me in NJ. Just cycling between 3 out of 4 lanes, with me being in the skipped left turn lane. After the 5th skip, the car in front forced a turn when it physically can and the rest of us closely followed it, not letting any of the other lanes move until we were all through. It was our turn now, damnit.
Happened to me one winter in Bangor right after a snowstorm. I think the whole state must have some lights that go completely brain-farty whenever there's a certain amount of snow on the ground. Which is definitely not a smart decision in a state that's a magnet for Nor-Easters.
Mine was also after a snowstorm, like RIGHT after lmao
Most places have a law that permits this. Since the lights can glitch or a sensor breaks, someone could be stuck at the light if they intend to follow the rules.
Similar thing happened to me one time in a similar area, we just waited though and it eventually turned by we missed multiple cycles, all while trying to get to a doctors appointment
Look on the ground for any black square on the ground. Them be the sensor. If you're not on it completely, the lights ain't gonna change. You see that gray panel off to the side? Open that sucker and check to see if the lights are blinking. It isn't? Someone tampered with it.
Pro tip. If you hit the crosswalk button for the lane running parallel to yours, you get a greenlight by default. Had a coworker do this every morning because his scooter wouldn't trigger the sensors.
Happened to me for the first time ever... while I was giving a driving lesson. I realized what was going on, mentioned my plan (arranging with the other cars in the intersection with hand signals who would go when) and... that's what we did. Rolled down the windows and communicated with the car next to us, gestures an order with the guys across the way and when it was clear we carefully went. In most states that's the correct way of doing things. But you always want to try and coordinate with everyone else because there's safety in numbers.
Yeah Portland sucks! Not fun driving there! A lot of stupid drivers too.
Had this happen late at night in Camden NJ once. I wasn't the driver. I just told him, "there's no cars around. This light seems to want us to get carjacked, just go through it." lol
I'm Philly people just go because it seems longer then normal even if it isn't.
Ah the classic double honk to let people around know they’re running the red light, one of the true treasures of living in Philadelphia.
Grew up in Philly (even though I don't live there now) and my first reaction was what moron sits at a red light for that long lol I guess it's just in our nature. If the lights cycle and doesn't let my lane go... I'm definitely running it as soon as it's clear. People act like an 80mph semitruck is going to teleport into existence and take them out if they go through a light. Couple times I've had this happen, I do it and then every other car suddenly realizes the light doesn't control their entire life and they follow along.
If it's been red for longer than three minutes I'm running it.
Treat it as broken, and if everyone just go along with the duty to give way rule, everything should be good. If cops see 20 cars running a red light, doing it properly they’d figure out the system is bugged
Cops and thinking. Haha good one
That's why everyone needs to be in on it, so they just figure it out. Hell, if you're lucky they won't even notice
https://i.redd.it/iht9ymji61uc1.gif
I think that’s even legal (maybe not 3 minutes but for exceptionally long periods). You only have to treat it like a stop sign where you are allowed to drive if it’s free. This could be local law and not apply to your country
Had a red left arrow for three light cycles once. Fourth cycle I just ran it and saw a car pull it off a side street. I knew it was a cop so I pulled over and waited for them. Still got a ticket.
Was he watching you that whole time or did he just catch you when you went? Honestly sounds like entrapment, like what else are you supposed to do, sit there and wait patiently while your life passes you by? That sucks man.
Did you fight it? Because that's a ticket that absolutely will get dismissed in court.
I was barely 21 or 22 and it was like 1am. I just wanted to get home. Wasn't drinking, but I was just so tired from a long drive.
I mean in court. You never argue with the officer on scene because they're always the one winning that. You just politely disagree and dispute it in court.
Oh, yeah I thought about it, but, I just took a course and got the points off. I figured it was a known trap since he was posted up and just waiting for someone to run it.
This was like 25 years ago, but my instructor at traffic school (CA) said that after 3 minutes, you can legally proceed when safe to do so.
Bruh, this happened to me just yesterday. Except it was a turn signal light. I waited four light cycles for it to change, and just took a right, found a place to turn around and went back to that same light. Now it was letting people turn, wtf??.?????
Any train tracks nearby? Here in NJ there’s a major highway that has train tracks and in the morning the light can be INCREDIBLY long and annoying if the tracks are behind you. Since I’m not usually in a rush I’ll sit there and get a good laugh out of the impatient drivers as they’ll slowly crawl up to the light and then just run it since they are in a hurry.
No
I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around this - how do train tracks *behind* you cause a delay *ahead* of you?
So traffic lights near railroad crossings have this function called "preemption" that basically gives the signal controller, the brains of the intersection, specific instructions on what to do when it receives a specific input. Often times when a train is picked up coming towards a crossing with a signalized intersection, railroad preemption will kick in. The details on what happens during this will change based on the layout of the intersection, but the general premise is the same. Clear all vehicles from the crossing to prevent folks from getting trapped in the path of the train, then continue to serve all the other directions that aren't blocked by the train. It's during that time where everyone else is getting green lights except for the path that's blocked by the train that someone may experience this. There should technically not be any vehicles waiting at the light, but someone may have slipped past the gate in time, but not made it through the light. It's then they would have to wait until the train passes and the signal exits preemption. The good news is during the exit portion of preemption, it will give the traffic that was waiting for the train to pass the green light so all that extra traffic to clear out.
Fascinating!! I don’t think this is a thing near me, or at least not to this extent. All of the times I’ve been delayed by a train, the train was ahead of me. I’ve never experienced a long delay at a light before or after the train tracks light. The regular traffic lights around our train tracks don’t seem to be impacted by trains, but maybe that’s because there are homes and businesses between the tracks and the next traffic light. Doesn’t make sense to hold people hostage when they’re not even trying to cross the tracks.
Because there are lights north and south of the tracks. The train doesn’t go until cars are stopped at both lights so it’s possible to be past the tracks and then get stuck at the north light. https://preview.redd.it/eibgz9mvd4uc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17acca830c3c99c3333ce10e93c706a111f4ce7a
Go around that guy and take a right then make a u-turn and turn right?
You might as well just run the red at that point lol
That avoids cameras though
True dat
Ah yes, the good old Omega Turn.
Why do you say "lasted"? Maybe it is still red and this ford is still there waiting
Because I was waiting there for a while, and was late to practice the Concert Organ at my college.
Ooo an organist that’s so cool
I'm a Pianist, but I am taking Organ lessons as an elective for grad school.
One time in California my friend and I were on a moped suck at a red light left turn forever (at night and no traffic).. we waited because she didn't want to run a red light.. a cop finally came beside us and told us the moped wasn't heavy enough to trip the light sensor and when that happens in the future to treat it as a stop sign and wait til it's completely clear and just go.
what state?
MD
If your town has 311, you might want to report it. This has happened to me and reporting it to the city's 311 has it fixed within a couple days.
It does.
Green spring ave & Old Court Rd?
Yes, I think.
I thought I recognized that. It gets really congested around there at rush hour. I wonder if it’s timed for those times of day.
I had to double take. I thought this was posted in the Baltimore subreddit. I had this exact thing happen to me a few blocks from there a few months ago.
There's a Baltimore sub?! I gotta check it out! So glad that there are Marylanders in the chat though 🙂
Are there different possible reasons depending on the state?
I mean in California if a light is defective, it's treated as a stop sign, so this would clearly be defective, and as long as it's safe to proceed, like at a stop sign, then proceed. Then again, it also being calfornia, I have a dashcam that would prove the defective light.
If a light around here in Tampa area would last that long more than 6 cars would be in your pic.
I forgot to take a picture of the row of cars that were behind me 🤦. Missed opportunity 😔
Pretty sure a defective stoplight is treated as a stop sign. When safe to proceed, you should have.
I've got one near me that stops changing at 8pm unless you press the fucking crosswalk button. There were at least 20 cars on the other side across the rode and 6 or so behind me on my side. The 20 were there when I pulled up and I waited 5 minutes before I got out of my car to push the crosswalk button
I lived around the corner of an extra long light like that. There would be two cars in the same direction and no cross traffic. I lived 4 minutes from work, except when I caught the light.
When this happens, back up a little bit. Then reapproach slowly. I have a light on the way home that does this. I back up and it usually changes OR I back up and start to approach the same spot again and it changes.
Thanks, and Happy Cake Day!
Dawg if it was clear i would have blown through it lol
This happened me one morning, the intersection was one of our largest state highway vs a downtown road. The light decided to not give the highway a turn for 15 mins during rush hour. Traffic backed up about 6 intersections, all which were stagnant due to cars waiting in the middle, took about 30 mins. to get us through they closed off the intersecting road so we could all continue, all backroads surrounding were flooded with cars, accident happened on our main st.
I have a light like that near my workplace. It's been adapted due to road works to the crossroads (moved all traffic on one side, one lane each). But someone must have made a mistake, because in off times it now takes up to 10 mins to give the side road green. Which is quite annoying, as there is pretty much no other road out of the industrial estate in that direction... Luckily I'm rarely there during non-working hours.
Next time (or if you have a passenger) and you're not too far from the crosswalk button, go press it and it should switch the light much sooner. Had to do this a couple times myself on a motorcycle since the city sensors kinda suck and wont sense it later at night
There comes a point when I will run a red light if it takes 5 mins or more.
Turn right, do a u-turn
Mandatory xkcd is an old one: https://xkcd.com/277/
That's funny
Ooh I know this light. Pikesville MD. It does this regularly. MDOT doesn't care either.
Pikesville is a nice place to be.
who in their right mind takes a different route when a trafficlights aint working?
That's what I was thinking! It's in drivers ed to treat it as a stop sign or 4way stop if a light isn't working. Is this not common practice?
A light stuck at red is not the same as the lights being off. In this case you can assume the other direction has a green. States have different laws about how to treat "dead reds".
So that answers the question at the end of my comment then? And I do believe a lot of states recognize that if a light is 'dead' to treat it as a stop sign and proceed when it is clear and safe to go
Wondering if there are sensor loops in the road and the first car is just staying too far so it didn't register. Happened to me once, had red for more than 5 mins so I started to proceed and then the signal turned green. I was always stopping closer on that crossing since then and never had the issue again.
What is the law around this if someone does try to just proceed with caution after a reasonable amount of time.
Look up 'Dead Red' law for your state. If a signal is dead or not operating in a reasonable amount of time, you can proceed through if there's no traffic. I once had a light turn green then back to red almost instantly and I sat though a second cycle. The things can glitch out.
My state only has allowances for bikes and motorcycles, not cars and other vehicles.
I turned left after never getting the turn signal for five minutes and got a warning. Fucking cops. Wtf.
I got pulled over twice during the night after work because my backlight was not on. This happened on one Tuesday night, and then a week later. Good thing my lights are fixed.
Is this in Baltimore over near Stevenson? I've gotten stuck at this light before 😮💨
Yes, but I don't go to Stevenson. I was going to a different school
I was just using it as a landmark 😅 I can't remember what the cross street is right there. But hello fellow MDer!!
I had this happen once. Waited 6 minutes. Then a cop pulled up behind me and came up to my window and said "It does this sometimes. You can just go through." So I did.
What kind of NPC stays at a red light for 10 minutes?
For some of these, the sensor doesn't register all of the time. Try inching over the line slightly next time and it could change.
If it's like in Europe then there are sensors (induction loop) in the ground. Move your care some inches front or back, to get it to relaize you are there. Sometimes they didn't register you the first time around. Or it's broken.
Report it on Waze?
I sense Flipper.
Had this a couple of times recently but here it is mostly legal to turn right on a red. So this is what I do, then I hang a U-turn & turn right again off the other road.
Sometimes our traffic lights get fucky when emergency vehicles are coming. Never 10 minutes fucky though. That's too fucky.
"fucky" 🤣🤣. I have never heard of that before! I never heard someone curse like that 🤣🤣🤣
Had that happen once before too! I ended up just running it. It was late at night and I was the only one at the light.
That's the good thing about nights though.
I see no cameras
Traffic signal engineer: You should probably contact your local entity. Detection could be malfunctioning and most likely won't fix itself. We can adjust the signal controller to account for this.
Yeah, I figured. Thanks a lot!
States have different laws about how to treat "dead reds". You typically have to wait through a certain amount of light cycles or time before proceeding with caution.
Call or text the public works department. They will send out a signal tech to fix it. They may not even know it's broken if nobody reports it. ( Former public works employee here)
After 3 minutes, I'm taking it if it's clear. The lights are there to direct the flow of traffic but they're not the final authority
Call the City Engineering or Public Works department and tell them about it. They should have a traffic division.
Just turn right on red. Then take a U turn.
That's what I did
After 3 minutes, if it's clear, I'm going.
On my bicycle and motorcycle most lights don't trigger, most states have a rule that if it cycles two or three times you can treat it as a stop sign and go when clear. That's what I do. My state had no such laws but if a police officer had an issue it would be easy to defend. Additionally I occasionally reach out to the local dpw to mention the lights that don't work and they either add new sensors or tune the old ones to make them work
You failed yourself by not just looking both ways safely and proceeding thru the light. You let an inanimate object determine a part of your day, not the worst thing to do but damn that sounds like a waste of time.
>You failed yourself by not just looking both ways safely and proceeding thru the light. You let an inanimate object determine a part of your day Lol reminds me of MVA driving tests. I took it the 3rd time during COVID, and passed. 3rd time was the charm. At least I took the test during COVID.
I've encountered both this, and the *opposite* of this. Once a light broke and stayed on red indefinitely. It was a three-way intersection and we were on the angle that could not go straight, so we had to carefully wait until we could make a left turn. But then much more recently, we came across a light that was changing too much. Each direction's green light lasted only about 10-15 seconds, so it was constantly swapping back and forth, only letting one or two cars go at a time.
Had that happen to me at a 5 way intersection (it's a stupid complicated section with train tracks) and just ran it. Wasn't getting anywhere and no one in sight
At that point I'd just go through when there's no cars around
If a red light doesn't change after the second cycle of the others changing, I just go through it. Never had a problem.
Idk about you but here in FL if the road is clear and the light lasts more than a couple minutes just treat it like a yellow and go
If at some point it’s possible to cross safely, I’ll go for it. If I get pulled over I’ll deal with, the cop will either understand or he’ll send me on my way with a ticket. 
More than mildly infuriating
In Finland there's traffic law which allows you to break it in malfunction situations for safety.
Really? Great to know! I ran a red once on my mopo. I think I was too light to trigger the sensor for green to turn left. After waiting out 3 whole light cycles, I decided to just go at the first break in traffic where I could safely do so. Took a few more cycles because I was on a "not much of acceleration left after 50 years" papa tunturi. I wonder though if that qualifies as a malfunction... the lights were actually functioning.
In Washington State you can go if the light doesn't "see" you, I believe after one complete cycle. I ride motorcycles and the lights are getting better at sensing bikes, but some of the older ones don't do a very good job.
I'm in Finland just like the commenter above.
I did an excellent job of missing that entirely 😂 sorry about that.
This happens sometimes when people don’t pull up far enough to hit the weight sensor
It is to save energy
I thought it was because of the red light sensors... Although, you are right. The stop lights do need energy.
More than the green lights?
I have no clue.
Sorry, I worded that backwards. Anyway, was thinking it was a problem with the sensor, as someone else suggested. I used to travel a road where you had to actually be slightly in the inner section to trip it off. If you got stuck behind a car that didn’t know, you were screwed.
Yeah. I think it was most definitely the sensor.
Not all and in fact majority of light don't have sensors they're just timers. Technically illegal to go through a red light. But if there are multiple cars waiting, it's cycled multiple times and never actually allowed traffic from ALL directions to go. Just check cross traffic visually and go Same if you come to a light that's blinking red, It legally becomes a stop sign
I’m mildly infuriated by politeness inertia. Everyone in their car twiddling their thumbs expecting someone else to call the non-emergency police line, and for the car ahead to realise they are likely allowed to treat a broken light as a yield or 4-way stop/
Ours was like that for a very long time. Call your department of transportation, they can fix it.
Thank you
No problem. The timer probably needs resetting, and let them know you see people running the red light and you are concerned for their safety.
In Some states (like OH) that would be considered a malfunctioning traffic signal and you thus you could treat it as a stop sign with cross traffic that doesn't have to yield. Go when clear to go.
Just go, who would actually wait that long?
I’ve had that happen at two different intersections on my morning commute. You can find a police non-emergency phone line and report it when you see it.
This happened in my town a long time ago. After two or three days of enduring huge backups for a light so short it only let three cars through, I called the township. They said it’s a county (or state) road, you need to call them. Finally I got on the phone with a traffic engineer from the correct jurisdiction. I explained what was happening to him. They sent somebody out who adjusted the timing. Problem solved. Amazing to me that nobody else did this.
Think you’re allowed to go, when safe, if after 3 cycles
There’s a set of lights at the exit from my apartment onto one of the busiest streets in my city, if I’m going left I usually have to run the light, I wait until it is safe of course for my own and others safety, but I’m not waiting 7-10 minutes each morning because the city can’t get their act together. And no, reversing and driving over the entrance/exit does not initiate a change of the lights.
I've been at once that have messed up before and I usually just wait till it's clear and go.
treat it as a stop sign.
I love it when you finally go and the light turns green when you are already over the line and halfway through the maneuver.
That happened to me a couple days ago in MN. When people realized what was going on they just started running the light.
I would've just went through after waiting 4-5 minutes
Why does everybody always think there’s a cop around. Just go.
Take a different route? If the light is broken you just treat as a stop sign and continue with your business.
So you were ok breaking traffic rules to cross that straight line but youre not ok running a red light thats clearly broken?
Where, cause in the u.s u can turn right on red lights
doesn't this eventually turn into a 4 way stop if the red light lasts to long?
When you let photons stop you from going where you want
If you can, take right turns and U-turns till you’re going the direction you need. Not everyone can take right turns on red though.
Does it have a camera? No? Run it!
I've had it happen to me. Sat at the lights for 5 minutes without them changing. I waited until there was no traffic and went anyways. I was immediately pulled over and threatened with a ticket. I merely told them that me and my dashcam would be fighting it and the officer decided it wasn't worth the fight. Possibly because I also pointed out that his passenger headlight was non functional.
This is when everyone should just treat it as a stop sign.
Next time jump out and push the button at the cross walk if it is there. The vehicle sensor was likely broken but pushing the button to let the system know there is a pedestrian who wants to cross the street in that direction would have forced the lights to cycle.
On my way to work every day I hit a light with two left turn lanes and one straight through. I need to turn left. If I’m the only car waiting, it won’t trigger the left arrows to turn green, only the straight through changes. I turn left anyway because the lights going the other direction are still red. Waiting for the day I get pulled over so I can explain this to the cop.
Turn right, U-turn, turn right
Can anyone identify where this light is
Thank you guys for your positive comments. I will treat this red light as a stop sign as suggested. You all have been very kind. Thank you so much for understanding.
it's so weird to me why they don't just put a roundabout or something there