Motorcycle doesn't trigger light change; semis are back on Old Bainbridge | Street Scene

Q. Tom, on his motorcycle eastbound on Sandhurst Drive or westbound on Hermitage Boulevard, is having to step off his motorcycle, walk over and press the pedestrian walk button then get back on his bike in order to get a green light to go straight through the Thomasville Road intersection.

Another option is for Tom and others on motorcycles, bicycles, motor scooters and midsize motorcycles is to make a right turn (on red) and then make a U-Turn. Tom asks if adjustments can be made to have the system recognize their vehicles.

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A. Yes. This intersection and about 98% of all signalized intersections in the country are activated by computers receiving electronic signals via underground wire-coils. The component receiving the wire-coil impulse can be adjusted to increased sensitivity which will allow vehicles of lesser mass than a car or truck to be recognized and the mainframe processors will activate the green light.

To be sure, something we promote is to encourage bicycle riding, and vehicles using one gallon of fuel every 100 miles such as motorcycles. Equality important is we certainly don’t want anyone departing from vehicles to press pedestrian signal buttons in order to get the green light.

Nor do we want to be forcing anyone into making U-Turns to get around a less than stellar operating signalization system. You should see a significant difference out there right away, Tom. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Big trucks are back on Old Bainbridge

Q. Barbara with the same personal and public safety concerns Street Scene has heard for years, reports the semis on Old Bainbridge Road are horrible.

A. What? Again? Good grief I thought we had this problem solved by asking all trucking companies to reprogram their fleets' Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to keep them on U.S. 27 north, through Tallahassee into and through Havana. We asked them to stay off our narrow winding residential street, Old Bainbridge Road. I understand the major trucking companies don’t want their drivers exiting U.S. 27, a four-lane divided highway, to travel a narrow two lane street.

We will take this to the US Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration as a major safety hazard for our local residents living along Old Bainbridge Road and those on daily commutes.

I ask all residents living adjacent to or traveling on Old Bainbridge Road who are impacted by large truck traffic to give me the company names on the side of the truck cabs. The information on the trailers won’t give me what I need. Don’t walk near the road just take a distant picture or take a picture from your car, then write an email to me with the information from your cellphone camera. Include the date and time of day.

We must post ‘NO SEMI TRUCKS’ signs on U.S. 27 at the entrance to Old Bainbridge Road. I don’t care who or which agency has to get involved but we are going to do what is necessary stop this nonsense. Our rural communities deserve the same consideration of peace and quiet and above all, to be as safe as our in-town residents.

Travel any neighborhood street where truck traffic was disrupting residents tranquility and you will see ‘NO TRUCKS’ signs posted. Street Scene will get this done but I need your help. We will join Barbara in restoring peace, quiet and public safety to Old Bainbridge Road.

Speed studies on Shannon Lakes

Q. Jane, in utter disbelief, says "holy cow" to hearing the city of Tallahassee speed study on narrow, curvy Shannon Lakes came back showing 85% of traffic traveling at or below 31 mph. Stand on the sidewalk for 15 minutes and you will realize there was something off with the study.

Although performed in advance of curves in the road where drivers slow down, a follow-up TPD radar speed-study showed the 85 percentile speed to be 38 mph. Jane understands a speed of 39 mph would qualify for some kind of traffic calming. With no traffic calming we take our chances even walking on the sidewalks. Jane asks Street Scene, are there any other options?

A. I don’t know what happened to the city speed study but such a discrepancy in the two studies is certainly very telling. All involved in traffic law enforcement know speed checks must be conducted in tangent sections of a road to get an accurate accounting.

As it stands now your options are few however my suggestion is to canvas (maybe with flyers not placed in mailboxes) people living on Shannon Lakes Drive in order to gather a large contingent of residents that want traffic calming to be installed.

When you have the response from residents call your city representative, mayor or manager to get on the agenda for a future city commission meeting and have each resident, one at a time, stand up and present their concerns for personal safety due to speeding traffic and propose their solution of traffic calming to the commission.

Allow any dissenting opinion to be presented. With the method and results of the speed studies I suspect there are some who don’t want it.

Philip Stuart is a retired Florida State Trooper, Traffic Operations Projects Engineer and Forensics Expert Witness. Write to crashsites@embarqmail.com.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Motorcycle not triggering green light at Thomasville Road intersection