Ha!  I knew that title would get your attention.    

I saw on the news where, as of 2013, Illinois is now allowing a motorcycle to proceed thru an intersection on a red light that fails to change.   Here is the official synopsis from the Illinois.Gov web site...

"Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that the driver of a motorcycle, facing any steady red signal which fails to change to a green signal within a reasonable period of time because of a signal malfunction or because the signal has failed to detect the arrival of the motorcycle due to the motorcycle's size or weight, has the right to proceed subject to the rules applicable after making a stop at a stop sign."

I'm sure many (all?) of us have faced the dreaded "red light dilemma", where you are in any of the left lanes to either cross or left turn the intersection.  During the daytime, when there is reasonable traffic, I would simply wait for a car to pull up behind me.   Cars have enough metal mass to trigger the road sensor, thus, allowing me to proceed.  But much of the time I rode to work at 4am with virtually no traffic, so waiting for car was not always an option.   In that case, once I determined that the light was not going to change, I would proceed against the red (after thoroughly scanning all around for cops, of course).

The question is, what is the alternative?

I guess you could dismount, then push the bike to a corner of the intersection.  However, for those of us who have done so, pushing an 800lb dresser is not a realistic option, and even so, what do you do when you get to the corner anyway?   At a local donut shop, I even asked a cop about this once.  As he was a rider himself, he said he would not pull the rider over, as long as he proceeded in a safe manner.  He understood there was really no alternative, but he admitted he was not sure what the official law was, and warned me that I could possibly be ticketed by another patrolman.

Sorry if this subject has already been thrashed before, but I just found the new Illinois ruling interesting.

I have one like that coming out of the 'hood.  Reported it a few times, got fixed a few times, goes broken again.

Their latest fix:  The light has 3 states.  Geen East and West, Green North, Green South
IF the light is Green for North, and a South bound vehicle approaches, it will turn East/West Green for a few seconds even if NOBODY is there.
And that tells me that they know darn good and well that it can't, and never will, detect a motorcycle on East/West.
I usually go to work between 2am and 4am.  Ain't no way I am waiting for anybody to come along and trip that light.  If I see a southbound coming and it is red for him, I will wait until he trips East/West green for me.  
Otherwise, I stop, I look, I go.   And I almost wish a cop would try to give me a ticket.  

Yeah, we have had that law in Tennessee for awhile that allows you to run a red light that doesn't change.

SC actually determines that a "reasonable time" is 120 seconds exactly...I don't know about you guys but I don't sit at stop signs for exactly 120 seconds before rolling on...

magnets will not trip the lights around here.

Idaho has a similar law....If the light doesn't change after one cycle, your free to proceed when safe.  Boise has been slowly phasing out the sensors in the ground in favor of cameras, which can even detect bicycles in the bike lane.  They work great, unless the sun is hitting them at just the right (wrong) angle.

ZAR wrote on 01/02/13 at 18:33:18:


I've actually seen the camera room at the Ada County Highway District.  I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for running a red light yet, and I'd probably be one of the first.