Stamattina sono quasi stato investito da un’auto a questo incrocio. Stavo andando in bicicletta e attraversavo il punto in cui si trova la freccia verde (all’interno dell’area ciclabile rossa) e l’auto stava guidando nel punto in cui è indicata la freccia blu. Un altro ciclista ha detto che avrei dovuto premere il pulsante sul palo e ricevere un segnale di attraversamento verde (l’auto avrebbe quindi avuto un semaforo rosso) prima di attraversare. A dire il vero, avevo visto questi segnali/pulsanti e pensavo che fossero usati solo dai pedoni (perché mentre camminavo/guidavo avevo visto c’era questo segnale di precedenza all’incrocio che sembra indicare che le biciclette stanno attraversando e hanno la precedenza (nel mio paese d’origine il triangolo rosso/bianco capovolto significa "prodotto" in questo caso le biciclette). Mi sembra strano che questo cartello sia qui, se infatti l’auto NON deve cedere alle biciclette che transitano di qui. Perché questo segno dovrebbe essere qui? Se è vero che le auto devono fermarsi solo quando qui c’è il semaforo rosso di qualcuno che preme il pulsante di attraversamento? Sono un po’ confuso da quest’area. Grazie
https://i.redd.it/jgoshbqln16g1.jpeg
di MTFinAnalyst2021
6 commenti
When the Traffic light is off cars have to yield for cyclists. But when the traffic lights are active, you have to follow those lights.Â
Traffic lights have priority over signs. The yield sign is only relevant if the traffic lights are turned off.
As you correctly assumed cars would have to yield. But if you ran over a red light (and please keep in mind, if there’s no dedicated traffic light for cyclists, look if the pedestrian one has a cycle symbol and if not you have to watch for the cars’ traffic light) the car driver may have not seen you. Or they simply didn’t watch at all, which is also a thing that happens quite frequently.
Basically – traffic light over signs.
When the traffic lights are off (no red pr green, just out of service), the sign counts and says “car should yield to all including bikes”.
If the traffic lights is on, you may not cross until it turns green, for whish you sometimes have to hit the button (otherwise traffic light just stays red).
It is entirely possible that the traffic light operates part of the day (when needed due to high traffic) but not the entire day. Hence the weird combination.
In any case – you will lose against a car. So caution first and hit the button of the traffic light. If it doesn’t turn on, you have right of way. Though you will still lose against s car.
Edit: it also seems that there is a sign below the traffic light that isn’t clear on the picture. Entirely possible that it sais in writing to hit the button of the traffic light.
The traffic lights have a higher priority than the signs. In general the order of control is:
1. police officer (nowadays very rare)
2. traffic lights
3. signs
4. right before left
So in your case, you have to yield to bicycles, as the traffic light has to two states yellow and red only. The double arrow below the bicycle symbols, mean that bicycles are allowed from both directions, so you also need to check both directions.
Is the standard that the lights are off and not red (looks like that on gmaps) ? If that is the case, why should one push a button that forces you to stop (if they are turned off you clearly have the right of way)…