Driving Protips: Four-way Stop Edition

[GeekDrew]

The odds of 4 cars all coming to a stop all at once are pretty slim.

Unless you're in a city like mine, where traffic is heavy and lights are timed perfectly so that it happens ALL THE FREAKING TIME.

When coming up to a 4 way stop and there are others coming at about the same time I'll purposely slow down a little quicker so that I'm the "last" person to get there. Makes it a little easier since people haven't the foggiest idea how to use 4 ways.

I do the same thing.

Oh, another thing - if the car across from you at a 4 way stop (or heck, even a 2 way stop) was there before you got there, it doesn't matter if he's going straight, left, or right, he goes before you.

Yep. Unless you don't know who got there first, which is also frequently the case around here... huge lines in all directions at a 4-way stop. Nobody has any idea who goes when, so it's just a huge clusterfuck.

 

[Baked]

You pause, I go. There's no yielding.

 

[bhanson]

Back in smalltown, USA where I grew up, a portion of the residential areas didn't have any stop signs.

 

[Jaskalas]

Sometimes I'm driving on autopilot and I'm completely absent-minded, and when I come to those stops I'm not sure about the order of people that stopped there.

When the guys to the Left or Right stop sign move, your turn is next. Problem solved.

 

[GeekDrew]

When the guys to the Left or Right stop sign move, your turn is next. Problem solved.

What if the guy directly opposite you decides that it's his opportunity to make a left turn?

 

[alkemyst]

what happens down here is

1) guy coming pulls into the oncoming lane effectively blocking traffic
2) guy figures everyone else will stop and floors it through.
3) guy figures sure first to the line gets to go, but isn't factoring it's the first to stop at that line.
4) guy stops 10 feet prior to line then floors it.

 

[natto fire]

Nice tags, heh.

Around here there are lots of aggressive drivers and even more 4 way stops. It usually works out pretty well, actually.

The thing that bugs me the most around here is left lane cruising, passing on the right, and rolling up 10 times at a red light. I find that the further someone "rolls up" when a light is red, the slower they actually start accelerating slower at a green light. IF YOU ARE IN SUCH A FUCKING HURRY TO MAKE UP THAT 20 FEET AT THE RED LIGHT WHY IS IT TAKING YOU A MILE TO ACCELERATE TO 35MPH?!?!

 

[SandEagle]

replace 4 way stop signs with roundabouts. hilarity ensues.

 

[D1gger]

what happens down here is

1) guy coming pulls into the oncoming lane effectively blocking traffic
2) guy figures everyone else will stop and floors it through.
3) guy figures sure first to the line gets to go, but isn't factoring it's the first to stop at that line.
4) guy stops 10 feet prior to line then floors it.

I thought it was the guy with the rental vehicle that had to wait for everyone else, since he is the least respected.

 

[ViviTheMage]

1) If you arrived to a stop sign first, you get to go first. If you arrive second, then you go second. You can (hopefully) do the rest of the math.

2) If you arrive at the same time as another person, yield to the right. It's the right thing to do.

AGREED...how do people not remember this .

 

[JulesMaximus]

I pulled up to a stop this morning and there was a car to my left that had stopped and proceeded into the intersection. I pulled my car right up to the intersection, a little past where the stop sign was and this idiot slowed almost to a crawl...staring at me like I was going to gun it and plow into him. Dude, really? I'm looking right at you, my car is stopped, and you're unsure of what to do? Get the fuck out of the way hammerhead!

 

[ShawnD1]

You should see people try to figure out what to do once ~1am hits and the traffic lights around here go off timing and on to flashing-only. Many Lulz to be had.

I love how people slow down for them. Why? Flashing yellow = green. Don't slow down. Just keep going full speed.

 

[GeekDrew]

I love how people slow down for them. Why? Flashing yellow = green. Don't slow down. Just keep going full speed.

Uh, no.

 

[PingSpike]

Fastest.

All good guess, but the correct answer is shittiest.

 

[JulesMaximus]

My favorite is people who stop at intersections where there is no stop sign. Case in point, there is a street near my house, it has some 4 way stops in some spots but other intersections the stop signs are only at the cross street yet occasionally some retard will stop at them anyway. A blast from my horn usually wakes them up but not always.

 

[ShawnD1]

Uh, no.

Uh yes. Flashing yellow means you have the right of way. Traffic going perpendicular to you will have a flashing red light which is the same as a stop sign. They stop. You don't.

 

[PingSpike]

See...this is why America needs to change to round-abouts. I spent four years in England, and discovered just how inefficient and idiotic traffic lights and stop signs really are. Only problem is it would be next to impossible to get a good majority of American drivers to learn the concept.

Traffic (impeding) Lights were invented by the devil to increase the rate of homicides and suicides in the general population. They are a constant reminder of humanity's willingness to accept half-assed solutions on a massive scale simply due to apathy and laziness.

That said in the US if people can't understand what a "Yield" sign means (and apparently they also require "Just Go, Moron" signs spaced at regular intervals within the roundabout) we probably don't deserve anything better.

 

[ElFenix]

flashing yellow means proceed with caution. caution may include slowing down a bit to make sure other vehicles aren't entering the intersection from cross streets or that a car isn't turning left in front of you.

 

[PingSpike]

Uh yes. Flashing yellow means you have the right of way. Traffic going perpendicular to you will have a flashing red light which is the same as a stop sign. They stop. You don't.

The flashing yellow really just means "pay attention" because some one is about to blow through the opposing flashing red, probably while tapping their brakes in rhythm to the flashing red and t-bone your ass.

 

[JDawg1536]

That drives me crazy. When I get the feeling the other people don't know wtf they're doing, I punch the gas at the first sign of hesitation. So annoying.

 

[KidNiki1]

Uh yes. Flashing yellow means you have the right of way. Traffic going perpendicular to you will have a flashing red light which is the same as a stop sign. They stop. You don't.

i almost rear ended some lady because she stopped at a flashing yellow. i hit the horn long and hard and she just sat there. i was like fuck! ...ugh.

Also, i agree with OP on every point about 4 way stops. I have a round about and a 4 way stop to go through every morning, and unless i am the only person there, someone (no, not me) does something wrong at one or the other of them EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING.

and i'm really sad to admit that most times, at least in my experience in my neighborhood, it's a woman causing the issues. in a big suv. just like you said. i weep for my sisters who can't drive a car. :'(

i think i hate most when a driver stops at the 4way stop, and then i stop, and then they sit there....and then wave me through. like they are being helpful.


also, OP, i like your avatar 'alot'.

 

[Kalvin00]

i see people blow through flashing reds all the time. no idea wtf they're thinking. no slow down or anything.

Ugh, I never noticed that until I moved out of a small town to a bigger city (where everyone here is a shit driver)

Driving around in a power outage is suicidal in this city. Traffic lights out? Yeah, go through at 50 mph without slowing.

 

[ShawnD1]

flashing yellow means proceed with caution. caution may include slowing down a bit to make sure other vehicles aren't entering the intersection from cross streets or that a car isn't turning left in front of you.

I'm supposed to slow down just in case someone runs the equivalent of a stop sign? wtf? Using that logic I should also slow down for green lights just in case someone blows through the red.

Ironically something like that actually did happen to me. I was on the highway. A guy on a side road ran a stop sign and hit my car. The car was written off and nobody was hurt but I still maintain that it's unreasonable to act paranoid all the time just in case people do crazy things like run stops signs or enter the traffic circle without looking.

 

[Squisher]

The flashing yellow really just means "pay attention" because some one is about to blow through the opposing flashing red, probably while tapping their brakes in rhythm to the flashing red and t-bone your ass.

I'm pretty sure flashing yellows can exist without perpendicular traffic having a flashing red. A flashing yellow is just a fancy lit up yield sign.

 

[PingSpike]

I'm pretty sure flashing yellows can exist without perpendicular traffic having a flashing red. A flashing yellow is just a fancy lit up yield sign.

Sure they can, I was talking about the specific case mentioned though. They aren't flashing yield signs though, a yield sign is a yield sign...at least not in the case mentioned. I'd say flashing yellow just means caution...which is pretty damn vague I'll admit.