I was reading the Atlantic Monthly, and there was this article offering the opinion that perhaps there are too many traffic signs in the USA today. That Americans have become so programmed to look for traffic signs telling them what to do, that they...we...while driving, don't think for ourselves anymore.
For instance--the speed limit sign that makes no adjustments for if the weather changes. There is, of course the ubiquitous "slippery when wet", but that sign isn't waving the alarm if one is on the freeway and it starts raining.
The article suggests that most people should know to slow down, but many are so used to the subliminal reminder that roads are indeed slippery when wet, that they no longer have the smarts to figure this out for themselves. Hark to the truck driven by a madcap teenager roaring impatiently passed you in the pouring rain.
The article also mentions that we spend so much time looking for the signs, we don't pay proper attention to where we are going. Like stop signs. Where are they? By the side of the road, often buried under trees or amidst other helpful signs like pedestrian crossing'.
How about four-way stops. Why is ALL the traffic being stopped? At least one of the roads could be allowed to keep moving. But perhaps it's because we Americans sometimes just need to be halted, mid-road, to be reminded that there are other people on the road besides us? I think this must be the answer.
The reality is the the four-way stop is a game of nerves. An illustration as to what kind of person you are--wimp, aggressive, the brainy kind who knows what the actual rule is--
I don't wait to see if the person on my right knows she got there before me, and therefore has the "right of way". Because what if, in turn, the car on her right got there first? Now what? And this is assuming either of them actually knows.
And then there is always Sam Goody Shoes who pretends he's just being kind and is willing to wait his turn. When the truth of it is he doesn't have a clue who is supposed to go first either.
Well, happy as I am for getting to stop at an intersection where there is no good reason for all of us to be sitting there at once, I know who goes first.
Me.
Why?
Somebody's gotta do it.