> 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]
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.
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...