Q: I noticed that Massachusetts has started installing actuated traffic control signal sensors that are able to detect bicycles. Is RIDOT considering installing such models as they rework intersections? The Massachusetts intersections include a painted stencil of a bike, so riders know where to stand to trip the light. I commute by bike most days and try my best to be an upstanding cyclist, following all the rules of the road, but even I lose my patience after sitting through a few cycles of a traffic light waiting for it to sense my bike and trip the signal. Eventually, I just give up and ride through when it’s safe. I’m sure many motorists think I’m, "just another cyclist breaking the law,” when in reality the road system just isn’t working for me.

A: RIDOT does not currently use bicycle detection at signalized intersections. The Department has not researched the operation and efficiency of these detection systems yet. That does not mean, however, that we are opposed to installing them.

There are many different approaches to incorporating bicycle detection at signalized intersections, such as video detection instead of loops cut into the pavement. Bicyclists may also use the push-button detection that is typically used by pedestrians to safely cross the roadway.

In the future, RIDOT will take a closer look at including bicycle detection at signalized intersections to accommodate the bicyclists who prefer to ride in the travel lanes like any other vehicle. If the research shows that this type of detection is operationally efficient, the Department could begin to install them at certain high volume bicyclist locations.

Bicycle detection could also be installed when reconstruction of a signalized intersection is included in a project. They could be installed on a trial basis to allow the RIDOT to evaluate them, and see how they are working for Rhode Island cyclists.

In the meantime, we recommend using the push button provided for pedestrian crossings at signalized intersections. This is a much safer alternative than proceeding through a red light.

Sensors and motorcycles

Q: Regarding the red- light-changing ability for motorcycles, I have read and tried something that seems to work fairly well. I find that the most sensitive area is within a foot of the corners of the installed wires. I have tried to stop at the front corners and this does improve the number of times that the lights have changed. The biggest problem that I have found is at the intersections where you cannot see where the wires have been placed and I would like to suggest that there be an indication of where this point is painted in the road, as I have seen in Massachusetts.

A: There are no signals that we are aware of that have painted lines on the road to indicate where the vehicle detector is located in the travel lane. Typically a vehicle detector is placed in the road once the final surface of the pavement has been laid down.

Since the pavement must be saw-cut to install the detector, once the wiring for the detector is installed, there is a rubber coating that is placed over the wires to seal the cut in the pavement. This rubber coating is on the surface of the pavement and therefore its location can be seen. I believe that this is the painted area in the roadway that you are referring to.

In a few locations throughout the state, the vehicle detectors are embedded in the base of the roadway, which means they are beneath the surface of the pavement and cannot be seen. These types of detectors may be more difficult for motorcyclists to see and therefore cyclists cannot position themselves on the detector to make the light change.

Painting these locations on the roadway cannot be done because doing so would not follow the national standards and guidelines set forth in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). This is a publication by the Federal Highway Administration that states nationally accepted standards for all traffic control devices (i.e. signs, pavement markings, traffic signals, etc). All states in the U.S. follow this manual so that there is uniformity in traffic control devices when traveling from state to state.

Our suggestion to motorcyclists at locations where the detectors are embedded is to sit approximately 3 feet off the center of the travel lane. The reasoning behind this is that the standard size for the vehicle detectors is 6 feet by 40 feet, and they are typically placed in the center of the travel lane. Therefore, if riders sit 3 feet to either side off the center of the travel lane, they should be sitting close to the edge of the detector.

Dana Alexander Nolfe, chief public affairs officer for the state Department of Transportation, has agreed to answer questions of general interest posed by Journal readers about state roads and other state transportation matters.

The DOT is responsible for the state’s transportation infrastructure, which includes highways, bridges, traffic signals and bikeways.

To ask a question that would also be of interest to other readers, send a letter to Ask RIDOT, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902. You can also e-mail your question to projocars@projo.com. Please put “Question for the DOT” in the subject field.

Questions or complaints of a specific nature should be posed to the DOT directly and will not be answered in this column.