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07th May 2020

What cyclists need to do to avoid getting caught at traffic lights during lockdown

Megan Cassidy

Dublin City Council has advised cyclists on traffic light navigation during lockdown.

One of the silver linings of quarantine has been the increase in cycling – something that is sure to benefit the environment in the long run.

But for cyclists, it’s not business as usual on the roads and there’s a couple of things to be aware of.

The fact that roads are quieter than normal actually means that cyclists can find themselves waiting at traffic lights for an inordinately long time.

Why’s that? Traffic lights are actually triggered to change colour by metal on a detector, and when there’s no cars on the road, they’re not triggered. Sounds simple but could easily catch you out.

Dublin City Council have released some simple advice today to combat this.

They tweeted:

‘With less cars on the road, some cyclists are left waiting for lights to go green. Traffic lights are triggered by the presence of metal on the detector loop. At a junction position your bicycle as per arrow below to request the green signal.’

Makes a lot of sense!

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