Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

First post and I can't find the thread I should post this in. Maybe the mod can move it to the correct one.

In one of the episodes there was a question about the word used to describe the point in time and place on the roadway which once passed would ensure an approaching vehicle would pass through the intersection legally, on the green.

The phrase I use is "Making the Light". It can refer to an exact point in time and space which is how I use it most of the time but it can also be used more generally. If in conversation multiple definitions of the word are being used then I'll try to use the word "point" with the phrase.

This Making the Light point is just one of many points one must be aware of when approaching an intersection. Other points include crossing points and impact points, which are lines mentally drawn into the future usually from objects in motion. As you approach the intersection all these lines are moving and being changed by many people and factors.

Each speed has it's own Making the Light point/line which approaches the intersection as time counts down to the yellow. All Making the Light points meet at the white line when the light turns yellow.

Match a Making the Light point at the end of its line and you will enter the intersection on the green and leave on the yellow. Get on the line and you can enter on the green and leave on the green.

Making the Lights does not mean all the lights were just by happenstance green when you arrived at the intersections. Making the Lights is a very specific action or series of actions that when successful puts you through the intersection on the green, or at worst the yellow. Ideally you want to enter on the green and leave on the green maybe taking the block of traffic you've Rabbitted with you.

The term for vehicle or vehicles increasing their speed after being passed is Rabbiting.

Rabbiting can result in the often dangerous practice of Chasing. Chasing occurs when a Rabbited vehicle tries to keep up with the faster vehicle which it will do until the Spring is broken.

Rabbited vehicles are attached to the lead vehicle with a Spring. When the lead vehicle passes a Rabbit, the Rabbit latches on to this Spring. The Rabbit then accelerates, often to speeds higher than the lead vehicle but as it approaches the lead vehicle it slows down as though it was on a spring. It will follow often racing to catch up and then slowing down to avoid passing, hence the term Spring.

The Rabbit will fall back into a block of traffic once it loses sight of the lead vehicle for an extended period of time, this is called Breaking the Spring. The faster vehicle can use various tools to stretch the Spring to the breaking point.

There are of course many other terms and phrases I and others use to describe the complexities of traffic and the great thing about language is they are all correct within their own context.