Yellow lights in Cary still a cause of wonder

Cary officials say drivers at the town's red-light camera intersections get plenty of time -- a yellow-light warning that lasts 3 or 4 seconds -- to avoid running afoul of the law.

Some drivers say otherwise.

"I really believe that the yellow traffic light at Kildaire Farm and Maynard [roads] goes off within 1 or 2 seconds," Trupti Desai said by e-mail. She grudgingly paid a ticket after Cary police sent photos that showed her car running a red at that corner in July.

A dozen readers chimed in with similar gripes after Eddie L. Smith groused about his own Cary camera ticket in a recent Road Worrier column.

They didn't think Cary's traffic lights stay yellow long enough, failing to give drivers enough time to stop before the lights turn red. One mistrustful motorist slows to 10 mph as she approaches a green light in Cary, to make sure she can brake before it turns red.

Some drivers were not persuaded by photo evidence that they had broken the law in Cary.

"My 'guilt' is iffy at best, but I paid the ticket anyway and got on with my busy life," Pam Bailey said.

Carol Murrell, Carol Ashworth and Hank Wruble wanted to know what the law says about their legal rights at red lights.

Are you breaking the law if the light turns red while you are in the middle of the intersection?

No. North Carolina law says you cannot enter the intersection after the light turns red.

A fat white band of paint called a "stop bar" marks the beginning of the intersection. If you roll across the stop bar before the light turns red, you're OK.

The red-light camera tickets I've seen (including one from Raleigh that cost the Road Worrier $50) show three photos:

(1) The car before it enters the intersection, with the light having turned red already.

(2) The car cruising through the intersection a moment later, still under a red light.

(3) A close-up of the license number.

It's hard to argue with that.

But, like Trupti Desai, the Road Worrier still has doubts about that fleeting yellow light in Cary. Maybe a volunteer corps, armed with stopwatches, could resolve these doubts.

How does it work with Raleigh's red-light camera intersections? Raleigh doesn't want to leave any doubt about whether you have time to stop before the yellow light turns red.

"We like to have at least 4 seconds of yellow time on all our Safelight [camera-enforced] intersections," said Jed Niffenegger of the city's Traffic Engineering Department.

Bottoming out, maybe

After a thrilling, three-month free fall from $4.058 a gallon in mid-September to $1.616 in mid-December (according to www.fuelgaugereport.com), the average Triangle price for regular gas is holding fairly steady.

You could buy it Monday for $1.49 or less at stations in Raleigh and eastern Wake County (according to www.raleighgasprices.com). But for the past two weeks the regional average has floated between $1.642 and Monday's mark, $1.593.

Maybe later this winter we'll crash below $1.50 for the first time since -- good grief! -- January 2004. Or maybe we're about as low as we'll go.

Prices are down, economists say, because Americans have cut back sharply on their driving over the past year -- reacting first to the effects of painfully expensive gas, and now to the overall economic slowdown.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says average American gasoline consumption for 2008 has dropped 3.4 percent below 2007 levels. Gas sales have fallen even in fast-growing North Carolina, which added 180,000 residents in the year that ended June 30.

The decline in consumption is expected to continue in 2009, falling 0.6 percent below 2008 levels. That should help keep prices pretty low.

No one knows how low. But the energy agency's forecast average pump price for a gallon of regular next year is $2.03.