Traffic Signal Detection Confirmation Lights for Bicycles in the Netherlands (Delft)

I have often said that the Dutch have figured out most of our traffic signal design challenges. It's not that they are smarter than us, it is just that they come from the perspective of the cyclist. Meeting with Ronald Tamse this past week confirmed that. A video of his presentation is here.

There is a question that was recently highlighted on the Institute of Transportation Engineers' listserv, and on the same day I got an email asking about this, so rather than write this once and copy & paste, I figured by posting it here, google might pick it up and it can be part of the FAQ.  Here's the post.

In the summer trip to the Netherlands, I came across the following intersection confirmation indication for being detected as a person on a bicycle. The push button would also turn on a light that showed that you had been detected.



In Portland, we're planning to complete an installation where the detection from the loops is connected to the button and specifically the LED in the push button that offers confirmation. The downside of this configuration is that you will see a longer amount of time in the controller Walk & Flashing Don't Walk, then just the minimum green plus actuated time if you wired it separately.

UPDATED: October 31, 2011...

From: Vendor (email me if you want details)
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 1:56 PM
To: City of Portland
Subject:

It is possible to light the LED on the Polara Bulldog buttons if you have the following equipment and wire everything accordingly.

#1           You would need to use the Latching Bulldog Control unit (PBCU) with BDL-3 pushbuttons.

#2           You then need to wire the output of the Bicycle detection loop amplifier in parallel to where the Pedestrian push button land in the controller cabinet.

#3           you would also need a 180 ohm resistor wired in series with the Detector loop amplifier output.

Please call if you have any questions.