Bikers see red over sensors

Motorcyclists seek shield from tickets

Sometimes the electronic pavement sensor doesn't notice Vinny Neuman sitting there on his motorcycle at the red light on Kitt Creek Road in Research Triangle Park.

He waits a few minutes for the light to change so he can head down N.C. 55 toward home. He puts down his kickstand. He turns the Harley-Davidson off and fires it up again.

There's nothing he can do to trip that sensor, which is supposed to make the red light turn green.

"You sit there and sit there," said Neuman, 42, of Apex. "When you get tired of sitting, you basically look both ways and then you take off."

Tired of breaking the law, motorcyclists have won political support for a new state law that would shield them from traffic tickets when traffic signal sensors don't work correctly.

A Senate bill headed for a final House vote next week would allow motorcyclists to run red lights with impunity, in some cases, after waiting there for at least three minutes.

"It's common sense," said Sen. Austin M. Allran, a Hickory Republican who sponsored the measure. "The only alternative now if the light won't change is either go forward and break the law -- or turn around, or go right on red and look for another intersection that might work."

Many intersections have electromagnetic sensors called induction loops, embedded in the pavement, to detect vehicles pulling up to red lights on side roads and in left-turn lanes. Some motorcycles don't have enough steel to trip the electronic signal.

The state Department of Transportation invites bikers to report traffic signals that aren't working properly. Greg A. Fuller, who oversees traffic signal technology for DOT, says the state tries to make the sensors strong enough to detect a motorcycle, but not so strong that they pick up false signals from vehicles in other lanes.

"When we get calls, we send out a technician to see if we can fix it," Fuller said.

Thomas J. "Doc" Wasileski of Pittsboro, who lobbies for motorcyclist organizations, says DOT has tried to fix the sensor at an intersection near his home.

"I have a big Harley cruiser, and today that signal doesn't work for my motorcycle," Wasileski said.

The House gave tentative approval to Allran's bill in an 80-36 vote Wednesday. A final vote is scheduled Monday night. The measure would have courts find a motorcyclist not guilty of running a red light if he could show that it was activated by an induction loop, he waited there at least three minutes, and there were no pedestrians or other vehicles in the intersection.

Raleigh Police Capt. Chris Bertram, a lifelong motorcyclist, is skeptical about the legislation.

"I think that could really be abused," said Bertram, 45, a former motorcycle patrol officer who drives his own motorcycle. "Sometimes you sit through a light because it doesn't pick you up right away, but I've never had to sit through more than two cycles."