To start things off with some entertainment, I'm going to deliver a lesson in how 4-way stops are intended to work.
Some of you already know this.
As is clear from driving in many states, some of you don't.
So: four cars approach a 4-way stop at about the same time, as shown via cheap-assed Paint illustration below.
Now, all four cars intend to proceed directly across the intersection. This shouldn't be overly challenging, but for some reason it seems to totally violate people's ability to spatially reason.
So, this is how it's intended to work. The two cars on opposing sides go, at the same time, across the intersection.So, this is how it's intended to work. The two cars on opposing sides go, at the same time, across the intersection.
This is NOT how to do it. One car goes, while the car opposite remains in place.
Here we are again doing this correctly. Now that the first pair of cars have already crossed the intersection, the second pair of cars proceeds to do the same.
...And here we are again doing it wrong; now that the first car has crossed, the second car counter-clockwise goes across, leaving two cars remaining.
As you can see, if the cars cross in pairs, the fourth step of this exercise is that no cars remain; the intersection is clear and all four drivers are already on their merry way.
As you can see here, however, if we were to go about it the other way, by the time the third car enters the intersection, not only the fourth car remains at the intersection, but additional cars are pulling up to stop; this is clearly going to take all day. Don't do this; this is incorrect and makes you look like a tool.
Things go to a whole different level of hellish stupidity if someone has to turn left, as witness below:
As you can see here, two of the cars pulling up this time are trying to turn left.
Now, doing this correctly, the car going straight GOES STRAIGHT, and the car opposite that's turning left turns BEHIND the car going straight. This way, both cars go at once, clear the intersection nearly simultaneously, and everything goes fine.
On the other hand, the car turning left could turn in FRONT of the car trying to go straight, thus causing that car to stop in the middle of the intersection and making everyone wait. This would be stupid, but I see this happen all the time.
Now, the sane drivers repeat the example of the previous sane drivers; the car going straight does so, and the car turning left turns behind that car, so that the intersection is clear.
On the other hand our lunatics from the previous wrong example are really screwed now; the cars waiting to go east and west are obstructed by the car going south, who had to wait (if you recall) for the idiot going north who cut across in front of him.
Now, if this process is done correctly, look! The intersection is clear and everyone has gone on their merry way.
On the other hand, the drivers from the other example have had an accident, because they're retards who cannot correctly operate a 4-way stop, and as a result, cars are stacking up in every lane while they wait for the accident to be cleared.
Don't be that guy.
Operation of a 4-way stop is a simple operation whose fine details seem to elude many of us. Hopefully this simple lesson has cleared the confusion and will spread virally throughout my personal set of globe-spanning intartubes to the point that they improve awareness of this issue and improve driving conditions for us all.
Just wait, this series gets better.
