Stopping at STOP signs?

[Bsuds]

It would free up court time for those fighting tickets for blowing stop signs and have police freed up to catch more egregious violations.

Might not help ICBC's bottom line and I suspect rates would climb due to more accidents from drivers "blowing" through intersections.

[Dizzy1]

New Zealand uses yield signs almost exclusively instead of stop signs. The big difference is that they drive on the the left side of the road. Yield signs make a lot of sense in that they don't take away your need to merge responsibly but give you the option of not having to stop which is easier on the brakes and fuel economy and exhaust emissions. Since hardly anyone stops at stop signs anyway it would not be a hardship to have to use more yield signs. It would free up court time for those fighting tickets for blowing stop signs and have police freed up to catch more egregious violations.

Don't see what driving on either side of the road makes. In Germany, many intersections have no signs, simple rule that a vehicle on the right has the right of way works wonders.

[mexi cali]

The vehicle on the left yields to the vehicle on the right. Simple yet far beyond the scope of many.

There is an acronym for stop that only some of us know and take advantage of. If you are one of the chosen, it is told to you when you get your license or your first Beamer. The police can't ticket you if you whisper this secret term in their ear. They will merely wink knowingly at you and you are free to proceed. Here it is. I may be drummed out of the corp. for letting this out of the bag but here goes.

The letters on a stop sign in fact stand for Slow To Optional Pace.

I think that there are many here who received this gift at one time or another and now all of you can take advantage of this great knowledge.

[Grandan]

New Zealand uses yield signs almost exclusively instead of stop signs. The big difference is that they drive on the the left side of the road. Yield signs make a lot of sense in that they don't take away your need to merge responsibly but give you the option of not having to stop which is easier on the brakes and fuel economy and exhaust emissions. Since hardly anyone stops at stop signs anyway it would not be a hardship to have to use more yield signs. It would free up court time for those fighting tickets for blowing stop signs and have police freed up to catch more egregious violations.

Don't see what driving on either side of the road makes. In Germany, many intersections have no signs, simple rule that a vehicle on the right has the right of way works wonders.

It makes a huge difference if you are not accustomed to cars coming from the right in your lane as you pull out of a driveway. Nearly bought it in New Zealand doing just that. You forget easily when distracted or in my case annoyed from a night of drunks pounding around in the room above us. All our driving is done by habit. Get in the habit of stopping at stop signs and you always will stop because you believe in it. At a yield sign, driving on the left side of the road, you are already disoriented, swiveling your head the opposite way to shoulder check is not as natural as the way we do it here, so I disagree.

[Smurf]

I have driven in both and don't think there is any difference. No matter which side you drive on you alway have someone coming at you. Merging is no different just turned around as far as I remember. Opposite side of the road sitting on the opposite side of the car.

Why can't people just obey the signs whatever they are. I can't believe it is so hard to understand. I could go for more yields as when I approach an intersection I always assume the other person probably won't stop anyway. It is my survival mechanism and has worked well so far.

[Bsuds]

The vehicle on the left yields to the vehicle on the right. Simple yet far beyond the scope of many

Except when the vehicle on the right has a stop or a yield sign. Try telling a Judge otherwise and see what the response is.

[Poindexter]

A while back the police camped out at the 3 way stop by Baron just beside Costco. Like fishing in a barrel they were nabbing drivers turning right at the stop sign me being one of them. There really is no reason to come to complete stop because the only traffic you have to worry about are those turning left coming the other way on Baron, easy to spot before you even come close to the stop sign. I imagine that's why they camp out there because drivers like myself are pretty common and don't always follow the letter of the law. The officer let me off with a warning which shocked me a bit, I was caught red handed but was good to see the police were using common sense. What I did was not dangerous as I crept around the corner and maybe they were only ticketing those that dont slow down at all - who knows. Feel fortunate to get away with that one.

[Dawggss]

re: previous comment - which I must assume was actually serious . . .
"The letters on a stop sign in fact stand for Slow To Optional Pace"

Really?
Any other myths or inaccuracies you'd like to share with us?
Do a search of the Stop Sign meaning in every country of the world and try to find one that says, "... Never mind, don't bring vehicle to a halt before proceeding - just keep going"! Not going to happen.
Ironically the word HALT was used on these signs for a time before STOP replaced it. HALT is not vague is it?
Do you think HALT stood for 'Hasten And Leave Thusly"????

In every nation the Stop Sign means - come to a halt prior to proceeding.
This is not a suggestion, it is not an option, it is not a recommendation - it is a demand or requirement of the driver.

Please folks - stop (cease forward motion) prior to proceeding / turning right at both Red Lights and Stop Signs. Not too much to ask, I hope.
I honestly cannot believe there is a debate on this topic! No wonder driving is such as stressful activity . . .

[Dizzy1]

It makes a huge difference if you are not accustomed to cars coming from the right in your lane as you pull out of a driveway. Nearly bought it in New Zealand doing just that. You forget easily when distracted or in my case annoyed from a night of drunks pounding around in the room above us. All our driving is done by habit. Get in the habit of stopping at stop signs and you always will stop because you believe in it. At a yield sign, driving on the left side of the road, you are already disoriented, swiveling your head the opposite way to shoulder check is not as natural as the way we do it here, so I disagree.

Yet the majority of the drivers there are locals, not tourists - fortunately they don't feel the need to cater to the few who perhaps shouldn't be driving there in the first place.

[jetty1965]

Saw a guy in a red pickup yesterday who thought he didn't have to stop at the stop sign when he was making a left turn.