Just make that red light?
Maybe not By Myron Pitts Fayetteville Observer July 11, 2009 We’ve all been there. I was there a couple of times this week. You’re driving along and approach a traffic signal. The light turns yellow, maybe one second or so before you thought it would. Can you make it before the red light hits? (Background: You know this particular light – it’s a mighty long wait if you have to stop.) You mash the gas, power through the intersection and imagine the light is turning red right above the roof of your car. Made it! Or did you? Maybe not. David Webb, my driving guy, had another cold bucket of water to pour on one of my regular driving habits. An acquaintance of mine from California told me he had been taught that if your car’s front axle breaks the plane of the white line at the intersection before the light changes to red, you’re home free. They call it the “touchdown” rule, referring to football, in which a score is registered if the pigskin breaks the plane of the goal line. Well, that ma
