ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[jeffster]

It's the attitude that it doesn't matter if anyone isn't around.

Except that it doesn’t matter if no-one is around.

I mean, that is just a fact. The purpose of the stop sign is to help different drivers and pedestrians co-exist. If there was only one person using the road, there would not need to be any traffic control devices of any kind. When only one vehicle/pedestrian is anywhere near the intersection, it doesn’t matter.

The problem arises when people get in the habit of just rolling through everything and not really properly checking. It’s the properly checking which matters. I would say that an over-emphasis on “coming to a complete stop” is actually a negative; it’s perfectly possible to screech to a stop, then take off at high speed without properly checking for other traffic.

This is one of several reasons why I consider “timed stop” rules to be complete nonsense. They’re nothing more than a way of making it crystal clear that the police are allowed to ticket perfectly safe behaviour. Fortunately that particular little bit of authoritarianism is not in Ontario’s traffic rules.

I've been hit twice by people that "didn't think" that no-one was around. Well, I was No-One, and I was around. Last time was about 6 months ago. Car to my right came to a stop, as did I. Being that they were to MY right, they had the right away, and they did so proceed. I proceeded to move after they passed, then I got nicked in my passenger side, by some woman that didn't bother to stop. Had several witnesses, which all acknowledged that I had the right of way. But her response was "I didn't see you". This despite a line of cars behind me. My guess is that she assumed I was turning right, like what 90% of the cars do, rather than go straight. But I was going straight, and didn't have signals saying otherwise. Though that is another problem too -- people don't use their signals.

The issue is, rolling stops make for poor drivers. Everyone's is in a rush, and so many do not pay attention to their surroundings. A stop sign is a stop sign, not a yield, you stop. Period. You look every way, then proceed. It poor, lazy, inconsiderate driving habits of people that disobey traffic sign, and a rolling stop is just that. I just saw an accident the other day where the light had turned green, but the folks on the other side, who had had the advanced green, were still finishing, even though the advanced green had long disappeared. Pedestrian was lucky not to have serious injuries, but having 5 cars carry-on after the advanced green was over shows how selfish and inconsiderate drivers are. It's the same for these stops signs.

I have approximately 1.5 million km driving experience -- 3 speeding tickets, that's it. I have been involved in about 5 accidents, 3 rear-enders (once stopping for a school bus, lights flashing, and once for EMS) as well as a couple minor side-hits at stop signs (as above). But when you hear "Why you stop for school bus?" it makes you question the dickheads on the road.