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This is why I hate driving in those types of areas.

A good percentage of the time two people end up trying to enter the intersection at once because hand signals are not a clear communication method for signaling right of way.




For some reason 50% or so of drivers have no idea how a 4 way stop works. That drives me nuts that cars are totally unpredictable at 4 way stops. These people get to a 4 way stop and frantically wave everyone else through I presume because they don't know who has the right of way. Or they don't wait their turn and go at some random time. You never know what is gonna happen.


> That drives me nuts that cars are totally unpredictable at 4 way stops. These people get to a 4 way stop and frantically wave everyone else through I presume because they don't know who has the right of way.

There's all kinds of legitimate reasons you might be uncertain about who actually has right of way (and, even more so, have doubts about whether other drivers perceive the situation the same way, and agree with your perception of who has right of way.)

"When in Doubt, Bail Out" is actually the NHTSA gives to this situation, and emphasizes that it trumps all other intersection right-of-way rules. [0]

[0] http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NTI/Article/RightOfWay/RightO...


However it happens so often in very, very, very, very straightforward situations I can only concluded these people have no idea whatsoever how stop signs work. We aren't talking in any case with any ambiguity whatsoever. It makes stop signs so unpredictable that they become dangerous.


Could this have something to do with what seems to be a very simple driving test to obtain a license in the US? Here in Germany you are required to attend a lot of theoretical and practical driving lessons and expected to know traffic priorities / right of way by heart. The hierarchy of traffic lights > signs > whoever comes from your right is really a no-brainer here.




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