Stop Sign Laws
| April 17th, 2008 by Robert | Word Count: 721 | Reading Time 2:55 | 2,198 views |
If you live in any town of decent size, I’m sure you have the luxury of stop lights to help direct traffic at some of your most trafficked intersections. Did you notice the word I used? Luxury. Yes, it used to be a luxury. However, I’m beginning to think it’s starting to become more of a necessity than a nice feature of the town. Stop signs have been the durable standard for coordinating the flow of traffic at intersections since the beginning of automobiles. But somewhere along the way over the last 10 to 20 years, there seems to be a missing link when you approach an intersection of awaiting cars. It seems like people have forgot or chosen to bypass the one most basic lesson taught at the lowest levels of society. Lesson = Take Turns.
Remember, or maybe not…., back when you were in the lunch line at school and you had to wait your turn to be served? Remember when you are at the doctor’s office how you show up, sit in the office, and await your name to be called? Remember when you got to the stop sign and there were multiple cars there and you had to discern whose turn it was and appropriately wait and go when it’s your turn? Well, the first two instances are pretty rudimentary, you basically have no choice in the matter because there are rules and fundamental society laws in effect to keep you in your place. In the lunch line, if you try and butt in, you will of course be promptly removed by the surrounding people. At the doctor’s office, you can’t just decide it’s your turn and help yourself through the door and into the clinic’s offices. However, the stop sign is totally different.
At the stop sign intersection, the basic laws that govern people’s prowess at taking turns take a sharp left and sometimes do a complete 180. Somehow, people have taken it upon themselves to decide that it is always their turn. It doesn’t matter who arrived first or even who has the right of way. It doesn’t matter because they are ALWAYS first in line. The public has no choice but to allow the person to continue on their way because the consequences are drastic. You get a wrecked car and police involvement along with a hefty insurance claim. So, as any sensible adult would do, you decide to let the person continue on their merry way and be first. But what does this do to the intersection and the flow of traffic?
The flow of traffic at the intersection will be forever mired in a discontinuous flow of stop and go decision making. You have the always first drivers, which account for over half of the drivers on the road in my opinion, and then you have the rest, the people who actually know how to drive. The ONLY way to combat this situation, that I propose is rampant across our nation, is to place stop lights at every intersection with any considerable volume of traffic. The costs associated with stop lights is minimal and will serve the community in more ways than any traffic study can show. Remove the decision making from individuals at these intersections and you will have fewer issues with wrecks, almost wrecks, and far fewer irritated drivers fuming about the idiocy of the other drivers which could lead to a wreck or worse, a rage induced incident.
Basic laws of taking turns have gone out of the window in our society and intersections are not the only evidence of this. The undying need to be first, to be number one, to be the best has overruled our most basic instincts of doing what’s best for society and the other individuals we come into contact with. We need to take these basic laws back and make them work for ourselves and our society. Start your day and remember to take turns at each and every opportunity you can. You will be surprised how often this simple principle comes up in your daily life. I know in my life, I will choose to be last every time so I can be the first to be happy. It all comes down to this, it’s better to give, than to receive.
on April 18th, 2008 at 8:24 pm:
I live in a very small town in Arizona and we were continually having accidents and traffic being backed up. The county finally sent one or their deputies down to direct traffic. This helped, but it took a full time deputy away from his job of helping to protect the county. After a lot of complaining to the county,they have finally set up a temporary traffic light. They tell us that it is in the plans to put a permanent light in. You would not believe the difference in the traffic flow. You no longer have to sit in line to get home anymore. You are right,some people cannot think or react on their own. With everyone on cell phones and listening to music turned up so loud,that a deaf person can feel the vibrations 4 or 5 blocks away.In todays world when everyone wants to be first at every thing, this sets up a lot of possibilitys for accidents and road rage.
So as you can see, I think that there should be traffic lights put in at all problem intersections. Some communities say that they cannot afford these lights. My question to those people. What price do you put on a persons life or safety??
on April 22nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm:
As far as price is concerned, how much cost is associated with a few posts, some electric wire, some high tension wire to hold the lights, and the light structure itself? I can’t imagine it would be a huge impact on the fiscal year of a community. It comes down to whether the town council/administration is there to help the community or to further abuse their position and use public funding to help other “needs.”
on May 6th, 2008 at 8:12 pm:
It’s like the 4-way intersection by FSCB that nobody else in town seems to relealize is a 4-way intersection, despite the fact that it’s posted below each stop sign. People just go when they want. Sometimes two or even three at a time.
I have my own approach for dealing with this problem. My wife doesn’t care for it much and it probably won’t yeild any long term results, but I just can’t help thinking that maybe, just maybe, I can educate the town – one car at a time.
I drive fairly decent sized truck, so when it’s my turn and I see people going out of order or in pairs, I take my turn anyway. I go right out in the middle, drive slow, and give them the look. It’s comperable to Blue Steel if you’re in the know. I certainly don’t have a death wish, so I have to choose my battles carefully. Bigger vehicles and scary lookin’ guys usually get away without one of my lessons.
When the other car stops; some of them get it, but most of them don’t. The worst part is that those who don’t, get to go on with their day thinking that I was somehow in the wrong.
on May 6th, 2008 at 10:06 pm:
Ricky Bobby, a Nascar legend in our midst! Yeah, those big red signs with the big white letters of STOP on them just don’t seem to carry much weight. It seems like the only way to control intersections of any traffic is to force the decision upon drivers. Large vehicles tend to create distance and it corrects some driver issues. However, there are those out there that will just drive right into the side of your vehicle while they are texting a message, yapping on a cell phone, or fiddling with their ipod while driving.
As far as teaching the drivers one at a time, I think it’s a futile effort. People nowadays do not use experience much in their decision making. They use what makes them feel the best at that moment in time. If they want to be first, if they are late, if they just think they deserve the next spot, they will take it just because they want to and feel it’s theirs because they deserve it. Removal of decision making seems to be the only choice we have and it’s a minor cost to society to do it.