Bicycle accessory turns red traffic lights green

It’s been suggested that some cyclists go through on red because traffic lights are unable to detect aluminium or carbon bikes – a problem tackled by a new accessory called the Veloloop.

veloloop turns red lights green

Many traffic lights in towns and cities detect whether cars or lorries are waiting, and change their phasing accordingly, but the technology recognises only ferrous metals – such as the steel in cars and lorries. This technological blindness leaves the rider of a carbon fibre, aluminium or titanium-framed bike all but invisible to traffic lights. Unreliable detection of bicycles by traffic lights can mean cyclists wait longer if there are no cars around. The frustration that ensues may prompt some to jump the red light.

The Veloloop attaches to your bike frame and at intersections triggers sensors just like a car does.

Veloloop turns lights green for bicycles

End the frustration of being invisible to traffic lights

An LED on the Veloloop tells the rider if the Veloloop is searching for a sensor and when it is triggering the sensor. The device uses such little power that a pair of AAA batteries powers last for at least one year.

Find out more about the Veloloop

Red light jumping

Every time you jump a red light on a bicycle you are breaking the law and fuelling the popular misconception that cyclists are more careless than motorists. However, it is possible to understand why it happens without condoning it. According to a 2008 Freedom of Information Request, in the rich mix of pedestrians, cyclists and traffic lights that is London, no pedestrians were killed in collision with a cyclist going through a red light between 1998-2007. Cyclists were involved in only a small percentage of injuries to them. Over the same period, 12 pedestrians were killed by motorists jumping red lights a fact that did not prompt newspapers to trade headlines about cyclist red light jumping for articles about the danger from cars.

The technological deficiencies of traffic lights mentioned above are interesting, and it is right that they are addressed, but they do not explain why red light jumping occurs. The question of whether, in certain circumstances (and always once all those on foot have crossed), it is safer for a cyclist to cross a junction while the light is still red is complex. The majority of serious road traffic collisions involving bicycles may occur on or near junctions, but have little to do with red light jumping. The single most serious risk to cyclists in urban areas is posed by lorries pulling away from lights and/or turning left. Indeed, some suspect the disproportionately-high number of women cyclists killed by lorries in this way may be explained by a reluctance to wait in front of a queue of traffic at lights (and perhaps pull away just before the light turns green), and a willingness to wait beside the kerb on the inside of traffic.

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Comments

  1. Lenniepaul

    Reply

    Maybe the problem is that cyclists when approaching a junction where traffic is queued is that most stay next to the kerb and pass stationary vehicles rather than overtake them on the outside . The problem in carrying out this manoeuvre is when the lights change to green before reaching the designated cycle area at the lights as crossing from the middle of the road back to the inside can also be somewhat hazardous. The safe option perhaps is to stay close to the kerb and if there is a lorry waiting at the lights never stop along side it or let it pull away first in case it decides to turn left at the junction and only proceed after it has passed.
    I cycled 12 miles to work for over a year and am also a motorist so am aware of the issues from both sides of the debate as it were,

  2. Alan Jones

    Reply

    True, but absolutely nothing to with this device. This device is for when there are no other vehicles around.

  3. John Mallows

    Reply

    I am not sure that ‘every time you jump a red you are breaking the law’. If it’s clear that a light is remaining on red, whilst going through green phases in other directions, then it is reasonable to say that the light is faulty. In which case I understand it is legal to proceed with caution (whatever the vehicle). The fact that the fault might be in the specification or implementation of the specification, (rather than one which develops after design, implementation and installation – the more usual understanding of ‘fault’) is, I suggest , irrelevant. The fact is that it is not working as intended; so it’s broke. Does anyone know differently?

  4. Anthony

    Reply

    I agree with John: I’ve a steel bike with alloy wheels, and I’ve had issues triggering lights. Cyclists are, I believe, generally very alert to their surroundings, and careful breaking of red lights (especially to turn left, but watch for HGVs), is reasonably safe, if illegal.
    Near us is a cycle lane leading to an advanced stop at traffic lights: I ignore it if I’m turning right, because if those lights go green I’m in the wrong place, trying to cut across the traffic. In theory, the cycle lane should be kept clear, which should be useful for non-right turners. At this junction, a right-turning cyclist wouldn’t have safe room to overtake towards the advanced stop line.

  5. Amoeba

    Reply

    No use to me, ships within the US only. I take care to stop on the induction loop, works for me.

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