posted
I thought I knew the proper way to handle these but lately it seems like my beliefs of how 4 way stops work are wrong.
I've always thought the first person there has the right of way. In cases where two or more people arrive at the same time, you yield the driver on the right. Finally (this is the one that gives me the most trouble), when there are multiple cars in different lanes, the yield to the right applies combined with alternating lanes meaning that if three cars are on your right when you get there, you let one car go then you go.
I was fine with these rules until lately. It seems the current rule is everyone goes before me, regardless of when or where I arrived. And God help me if I try to go before all the cars have cleared.
And apparently, cars taking a right on red (without stopping) have more right of way than cars going straight through a green light.
Posts: 835 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
You understand correctly, Hubert, AFAIK. Most of the other drivers in this state do not.
Four Kitties
-------------------- If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales? Posts: 13275 | From: Kindergarten World, Massachusetts | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
It's not just in Massachusetts. I was taught that Pedestrians have the right of way, you don't pass on the right, you don't pass on a solid line, and that when making a left turn at a solid green light, you always yield to the other traffic (ie someone going straight through or turning right). Apparently where I live now (I'm transplanted from Ohio) this is all wrong!
So just to clarify, you are not the only one confused by traffic laws. I guess what some of us were taught in Drivers Education has gone out the window.
posted
I read elfbunny's post as Presbyterians had the right-of-way.
-------------------- IIRC, it wasn't the shoe bomber's loud prayers that sparked the takedown by the other passengers; it was that he was trying to light his shoe on fire. Very, very different. Canuckistan Posts: 3694 | From: Arizona | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I pass through a lot of stop signs on my way to work now, and I've discovered that -- although the rules Hubert lists are "correct" -- in reality every stop sign is a game of chicken, and the person who goes first, fastest, and has the most psychotic look on his or her face, has the right of way.
Posts: 113 | From: DeKalb, IL | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Towknie: The rules in Frisco, TX are quite simple:
1) The biggest blingiest car gets to go firts, ingnore traffic signals, pedestrians, school zones, and lanes specifically for turning.
2) ME FIRST!! ALWAYS ME FIRST!!!
3) If two drivers are trying to follow rule #2, then refer back to rule #1.
You forgot the one that says the person on their cellphone who isn't paying attention to who else is at the intersection gets to go first after doing a rolling "stop." Other than that, all these apply to Mercer Island, WA.
-------------------- ... and now back to your regularly scheduled lurking.
I have 15 points and owe 1 keyboard! Posts: 394 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
If anything I find that sometimes people are too cautious at 4 way stops. Like situations where two people approach perpendicularly. The one on the left gets there 2 or 3 seconds before the one on the right. Then the person on the left is waiting for the person on the right to go because they're on the right, and the person on the right waits because the person on the left got there first. And then after five seconds they both give up at the same time and go, then brake. Sometimes when I see a stalemate coming, I'll slow down just to ensure that its clear they got to the sign first, or I'll inch forward and stop to make it look like I just got stopped.
Posts: 2018 | From: Santa Barbara, California | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Ha, even worse, I'm in hurricane-prone Miami.
So, in addition to regular 4-way stops, we have occasional "this intersection is now a 4 way stop because the traffic signals blew away or have no power."
I generally avoid driving in the first few days after a hurricane. It got so bad during the Katrina/Rita/Wilma run that I basically had a peeing contest with my boss, daring him to fire me for not coming in after a hurricane until I was good and ready. Yeah, I still work there.
Posts: 95 | From: Miami, FL | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
With the four-way stop by my house, everybody races to see who will go first. Usually me.
But if another car and I arrive at the intersection at the same time, I usually wave at the car to signal them to go. Many times, they wave at the same time and we both get frustrated for a second because we don't know who's gonna go first in that situation.
Of course, I saw one bitch fly through the stop area, slow down to almost a stop in the middle of the intersection and keep on speeding right after. Boy, I tell you, if cars were made of rubber and people had no chance of dying in a car accident somehow, I would have crashed right into her to scare her.
posted
There's a 4-way in town I go through all the time, and I'm desperate for the town to put up a traffic light. Even though lights in our town are known for having backwards sensors (turn red as someone approaches with nobody coming the other way, then you have to sit until someone comes from the other way, at which time it will turn red on them when they approach.) Maybe people in my town just don't know their right from their left.
-------------------- Give peas a chance. Posts: 564 | From: Georgia | Registered: Dec 2001
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