4 Way Stop Etiquette / Law

[Norm W]

That means that everyone with a license needs to be able to read! Much less be able to read English.

 

[LD1]

My issue is that the over courteous drivers are just as bad as the impatient ones that want to go out of turn.

Agree, when it's your turn....just freaking go and don't fool around.

I see this alot when towing the big gooseneck. Someone clearly gets there before me and wants to wave me on. Just freaking go, it takes me alot longer to get going and clear the intersection. Worse, if I'm trying to turn the direction you are coming from, and it's a small intersection. I HAVE to swing wide. Don't wave me on. YOUR IN MY WAY.

Sometimes if I arrive just a moment before someone else and you are going the same direction as me, I'll be courteous and let you go first, as with a trailer I'm slower and don't want to hold you up.

But in general.....go when it's your turn.

In the case of the OP's example.....I'd say 1 and 3 go at the same time. Then 2, then 4. But if you are driver #3, don't dilly dally. If you impede #2....that's a problem with me.

Of course all of this only works if people actually use turn signals

 

[Streetcar]

When I had a fifteen year old suburban that had been hit and totaled three times( all times other drivers fault). People would wave me through the four way by my house

 

[Bird]

EXACTLY as Looking4new indicated. As I often ride a motorcycle in the summer - I avoid these 4-way situations like the plague. I will make a right turn from any of the four lanes - I don't care where it takes me - just to get out of this impossible situation.

Where we currently live, there is NO way out of our neighborhood without going through two 4 way stop intersections.:laughing:

 

[TSO]

Regarding: "the one to the right is given 'the right of way'."

Close, but not accurate. Drivers are to "yield" the right of way to the driver on the right. No one can "have" the right of way so it cannot be taken or given.

No... What i said:

The person who gets there first has the right of way to start first. However, if two vehicles arrive at the same time, the person to your immediate right has the right of way.

... Is accurate regarding 4-way stops (the topic of this thread). What you said is correct regarding uncontrolled (no traffic control signs or signals) intersections.

 

[tcreeley]

In Maine they tend to take turns, otherwise they follow the one on the right has right of way.

 

[Looking4new]

In Markham, ON, it is the one with the most nerve goes first if they stop at all and totally ignore red lights if you are turning right regardless of what is going through on the green.

 

[jaxs]

#1 go's first. When 1 start's moveing,3 go's. My favorite answer was about all four women waiting to see who is best at waving and directing others through.

 

[cqaigy2]

When I had a fifteen year old suburban that had been hit and totaled three times( all times other drivers fault). People would wave me through the four way by my house

Ha ha! I had a small old Toyota pickup with multiple colored doors and fenders, people were pretty leery of it too. :laughing:

 

[Garandman]

They are great, they replaced a troublesome 4 way stop and a tee with them a few years back and I like them, you get through much quicker than you used to.

Aaron Z

In Mass, most of our older traffic circles are Rotaries. They are much larger in diameter, have an inside and outside lane, and don稚 require traffic to slow down much at all.

Newer construction are roundabouts, which are smaller in diameter and usually single lane. This resolves the four way stop quandary.