Bicycle signals which assist both motorists and cyclists to get around more safely are appearing in many U.S. cities. Places like Austin, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington are among 126 manicipalities that have installed the lights. It appears the earliest detected advantages of such lights are two. The first is to allow more time for a bicycle rider to pass through an intersection before the light turns red. The finer points of this process are not entirely clear from the written material available but the basic purpose seems clear. The second function appears to be to give cyclists a bit of a head start at a light to help them get out ahead of drivers who are turning right. Again, you would like to see it in operation before trying it. Traffic specialists in jurisdictions using the signals say they are in a research period and expect that over time, the function of the bicycle lights will be written more fully into traffic codes.
