I have been riding around the great states of Tennessee and North Carolina for the past week.  As I have been down here, I have come to appreciate a law that both states have that says if you wait at a red light and it doesn’t change, I believe it is for two minutes and it has to have a vehicle detector, that if a motorcycle is the first in line, it may proceed through the red light.  This is because there is not enough metal to trigger the vehicle detector loops.  If a motorcycle is over the “loop” and the light does not change, it keeps a car from tripping the loop, as the motorcycle has it blocked.  I have decided that when I get home, I am going to send a letter to my state representative to see if he could introduce this bill.

Well, I came in from washing the bike tonight and Amy shows me the online newspaper.  It turns out that the Canton Repository had this very topic in the paper today.  Here is an excerpt.

COLUMBUS Ron Risko couldn’t afford to drive his pickup truck from his home in Louisville to work at a steel plant in Warren. The cost of gas was just too high for the 100-mile round trip. So he switched to a motorcycle. Now he’s got another problem — traffic lights. 

There isn’t enough metal on a motorcycle, scooter or bicycle to trip traffic lights governed by sensors embedded in roadways. 

So Risko and others who ride two-wheeled vehicles have to wait for a car or truck to come along and trip the light — or break the law by going through a red light. The former is OK when traffic is heavy, but Risko often is on his way to work at 5:30 a.m. And he comes home late in the evening, when few vehicles are on the road. 

“It’s not a problem I face alone,” Risko said. “I can be hung up forever.” 

State Rep. John Hagan, R-Marlboro Township, said he plans to introduce legislation this fall that will take care of the problem. 

‘COMMON SENSE’ 

Motorcyclists and bicyclists would be allowed to go through a red light after stopping for a required amount of time; for example, two minutes. They could proceed as long as traffic is clear. Seven states have similar laws. 

This law works in the states that have adopted it.  Ohio needs this law too.  I have to run two lights on my way to work everyday.  Right now what I do is illegal, but I cannot sit at the lights, as I block cars from changing the lights.  I guess I could sit there my next trip through, but I would still be there a day later.  i just do it, and I figure a cop or judge will understand if they are reasonable.