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Motorcyclist Mythology and Crossing Town Faster |
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Dispelling a myth is, at best, difficult. Historically, humans are more than willing to hold tightly to old thinking – irrespective of facts that clearly disprove legends, folklore, and myths. Copernicus didn’t even live long enough to see the world shift to the realization that the earth was not the center of the universe. And sailors aboard Columbus’ ships were terrified at the prospect of sailing off the edge of the flat earth – and into a nest of vicious, sailor-hungry sea monsters. This despite the fact that globes had been being sold for well over fifteen years. Everyone who rides a motorcycle on the streets of America (and most other countries) knows that traffic signal lights don’t often acknowledge their presence at an intersection – and therefore, the lights don’t change. Bikers also know that the black rectangles cut into road surfaces at intersections affect control of the traffic light signal changes. No problem so far, both these things are accurate. It’s in the understanding of how these rectangles control signal changes where the myths occur. |
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The mysterious black rectangle is actually tar or rubber covering an inductive loop: a coil of wire with current running through it. After a road is built, a very shallow cut is made into the road’s surface. A long piece of wire that has been insulated is coiled and placed in the cut, and then covered with tar or rubber. The two ends of the wire are then attached to terminal connectors, which have wires running to meters, and ultimately, the traffic signal control box. When the inductance of the loop is raised adequately, the traffic signal’s cycle is initiated. An inductive loop is not affected by weight, mass, or density. If you were to place a densely packed, 10,000 pound cube of plastic, rubber, wood, and aluminum inside an inductive loop at an intersection, the traffic signal would not cycle. Essentially, an inductive loop is an electromagnet. Ergo, only iron (Fe: ferrite), or material containing iron, appreciably affects the inductance of the loop. Now, just a couple of little things to remember about inductive loops, and the way they work. 1) The smaller the diameter of the loop, the more any material inside of it will affect inductance. 2) The further away from inside the loop any material is located, the less the affect it will have on the level of inductance. Now I think it’s finally time to explain why your iron horse won’t initiate signal cycles. Motorcycles, bicycles, and more and more of the smaller cars don’t contain enough iron, close enough to the loop, to raise the inductance adequately to cause cycling of the signal. Even most of today’s high-tech steels don’t contain much iron, and modern motorcycles are teeming with plastics, rubber, and aluminum – none of which affect the loop’s inductance. It’s starting to become clearer why so many bikers think that traffic signals are tripped by weight. If you put enough motorcycles inside of a loop, you increase the amount of iron inside the loop, so the traffic signal will cycle. How many bikes this takes is relative to their composition, not their weight – or the weight of the riders. Some riders, those wearing boots with iron-based metal accessories, will have a greater affect on the inductance. By now, you’ve probably figured out that you could cause traffic signal lights to cycle if you merely chained a chunk of iron to your rear fender. Of course, attaching the chain is problematic – and the heavy, costly chunk would quickly be worn away by the friction created with the road’s surface. Hardly an acceptable solution. |
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But take heart, all is not lost! There is a way to dramatically affect inductance without falling prey to the problems of employing heavy chunks of iron. An inductive loop creates a magnetic field, and something that disproportionately affects magnetic fields, is another magnetic field of a specific type. Magnets create magnetic fields. Some types of magnets create quite potent fields. Enter the Signal Sorcerer® traffic light changer. Such devices also go by other names including motorcycle traffic light signal changer; traffic light tripper; and traffic light trigger. The Signal Sorcerer® traffic light changer is a specially engineered and assembled magnet that will cause traffic light signals to cycle, but will not adversely affect the electronics of your motorcycle or automobile. Signal Sorcerer® is encased in indestructible plastic to prevent damage from road debris; the power source lasts approximately 300 years; it only weighs about an ounce; it installs without tools in less than three minutes, and requires no wiring. It is available in a striking red for $19.95. Or, of course, you could start trying to figure out how to attach that chain… Go to the official Traffic Light Tripper website now and check it out! |
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Signal Sorcerer® is a registered trademark of Iron Horseman Technologies™, Tucson Arizona. |
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