Cycling in Waterloo Region

[MidTowner]

....so, how often do pedestrians "blow through" a four-way stop with out coming to a full and complete stop if it is perceived to be safe for them to do so??

People on foot are not required to stop at stop signs, of course. They have right-of-way at a two- or four-way stop. Someone walking is generally traveling six kilometres per hour or less, making it pretty easy to see oncoming traffic. When you increase this to thirty or fourty kilometres per hour or more, and add a few dozen pounds in the case of a bicycle or potentially thousands of pounds in the case of a motor vehicle, the risk of a collision increases and the potential impact of a collision dramatically increases.

For those "the law's the law" types here, consider that there is a finite amount of resources to do anything, including enforce laws. Those resources have to be allocated somehow, so look into what actually causes serious collisions, and decide whether you think enforcement time and money should be spent on cracking down on cyclists failing to stop at stop signs. People driving motor vehicles cause many more costly collisions than people riding bicycles.

I agree with the notion that cyclists should be permitted to treat 'Stop' signs as 'Yield' signs, but to say that all laws must be enforced all of the time is unrealistic. Of course focus should be placed on particularly dangerous infractions.