Do you stop at stop signs?

[nemo]

Originally Posted by euromodder

The US could see a major reduction in its automotive fuel use just by getting rid of the silly, wasteful 4-way stops and replace them with priority / yield signs according to traffic densities.

People here have no idea what yield is. I the past few years the have replaced some of the two way stop with small circles. People on what was the non stop side ( all four sides now have a yield sign) just blast through, even if you have already started in to the circle and are approaching their lane.

But yes, we throw up stop signs like that is the fix for bad drivers, speeders and poor enforcement. Stop lights almost as bad.

[Frank Lee]

Our "progress" and "development" is leading to more and more stop signs and stop lights along previously unencumbered routes, leading to real reductions in trip efficiency regardless of traffic density. When I think it's appropriate from a safety viewpoint and from a "is there likely to be a cop lurking" viewpoint, I treat stop signs as yield signs.

Some stop signs really ought to be yield signs; there's one in particular that has miles of unrestricted visibility in both directions and is in a reduced speed zone anyway, that should be a yield sign but the cops, city, and courts seem to enjoy the revenue it probably produces. I got nailed at that one; the next evening I did my own survey (took the cop's hiding spot) and found that out of 20 cars, only 2 came to complete, non-rolling stops. The best one was the cop car that rolled through. However, the judge was completely unimpressed with my findings.

If you're gonna play, you might hafta pay.

[Piwoslaw]

If I am alone at the intersection I slow down to just barely rolling ("That was not a complete stop. I saw that the horizon was still moving" as my wife's driving instructor said). But if there is someone else I will often stop, even if I could roll while letting him pass, just so he knows that I see him and give him the right-of-way.

This talk about lurking police, etc., reminds me of a commercial that our TV ran just before New Year 1999/2000: It's the middle of the night, a couple is coming home from a new year's party, an intersection in the middle of nowhere, all 4 directions have a red light, no-one else in sight. The driver waits, waits, waits, finally decides to slowly pass the red light. As soon as he clears the intersection a policeman jumps out from behind a bush with a wide grin on his face. Then a voice says something like: "Not everything may be working when you wake up in Y2k, but you can be sure that our company's telecom services will be just fine."

[hamsterpower]

When I'm driving I always stop. I stop for the car I don't see. However when I bicycle I treat stop signs as yields.

[Frank Lee]

Bicycling- that's probably where I got those rolling stops from. I bicycle more often than I drive.

[endurance]

I have two stop signs in my neighborhood that I treat as yield signs. There's excellent line of sight and I slow down enough to make sure I could stop if a bicyclist was blowing through the intersection I could stop short. Otherwise, in my city travels I stop, look, creep forward, look again, and then go. Way too many pedestrians get hit in our downtown to even carefully role a stop sign. In the last 10 years we've had 4 of 51 employees hit by cars, with two of those spending the night or more in the hospital.

Regarding US traffic laws, it's silly how many intersections could be converted to a yield sign. Probably on the order of 80% of them from what I've seen. Worse yet, the city of Golden put in roundabouts several years ago to reduce the severity of accidents and improve traffic flow. While it has worked on both accounts, now accidents are on the rise. Why, you may ask? Because they covered the entry medians and roundabouts with shrubbery and trees that are finally maturing so you have no sight lines. The city says the shrubbery makes people drive slower, but all it really does is gives you a choice; stop or collide. They've destroyed a perfectly functional solution with 5' of dense shrubs.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by hamsterpower

When I'm driving I always stop. I stop for the car I don't see. However when I bicycle I treat stop signs as yields.

When I drive I come to an almost stop. That gives me enough time to check if there is a cop present.

When I bike I virtually never stop or even slow down unless there is a car approaching. The looking to see if there is any potential danger is more important than the stopping.

Besides, you don't need a license to ride a bicycle. (At least not yet, thank God.)

[endurance]

Originally Posted by Thymeclock

When I bike I virtually never stop or even slow down unless there is a car approaching. The looking to see if there is any potential danger is more important than the stopping.

I was visiting a friend in Coeur d'Alene a few years ago and every morning we rode the same route to get to breakfast. At first I stopped at every stop sign, but then found her blowing through most of them. I was in total holiday mode and started doing the same without noticing she was only blowing through the four-way stops. Just as I entered one intersection I saw a pick up coming way too fast to stop. I locked it up but with 700C tires, it wasn't a very quick stop. I missed getting hit, but he'd also slammed the brakes, which made him stop right in front of me and I ended up broadsiding him. No bones broken, but had to take a well deserved a$$ chewing and straighten out my front wheel before I could ride on. Since then, I've paid a lot more attention to those cross streets.

[Arragonis]

We don't normally have the full "Stop" sign although apparently our one contribution to EU sign standards when we joined was the word "Stop" in favour of any other phrase / word / logo - the continent rejoiced...

Normally we have "Give Way" which is the same as "Yield" in the US, with some Stop signs but they are normally at places where the junction is blind - i.e. you wouldn't see it until it was too late if the sign wasn't there.

We have uncontrolled junctions - 4 ways with no stop - and I was taught by my dad (ex cop) to always stop or slow to a low crawl on them - it worked as this was the 'trick' the driving examiner liked to pull on victims, er, I mean candidates.

Originally Posted by Thymeclock

When I bike...

Unfortunately a lot of bikers (pedal style) do this here - I watched one getting mown down only last week after continuing against a red light and then trying to blame the driver involved (bus).

When he realised the number of witnesses who saw what really happened he decided just to accept a lift to A&E and shut up.

[Joenavy85]

Originally Posted by nemo

People here have no idea what yield is.

Ain't that the truth, my apartment complex is filled with stop signs due to the Dip****'s that don't understand the concept of looking for other cars, now if we could only get them used to the concept of looking for the signs we would be good to go.

Depending on traffic, I'll "California Roll" through the sign, if there is any cross traffic in sight I stop completely