This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Driving Tip: Intersection Order
Nov
23
2010
There’s a four-way stop on our way to church. Most of the time, the people who go through that intersection are familiar with it and know how to handle a 4-way stop – taking turns and all that.
But last week, there were some people who did not quite understand when they could go. In the interest of the public good, I am writing this blog post to educate drivers who may be wondering about when to drive through the intersection.
Everyone knows how the 4-way stop should work – a person goes in the order he arrived at the intersection. First one there has the right of way. If two people get there at the same time, the more aggressive driver gets to go first.
But aggressiveness was not the problem we had that night. People were not smart. They weren’t bad, just very inefficient.
Here’s a diagram of the set of cars just before it was my turn:
Car #1 was supposed to go first, which he did.
Car #2 was supposed to go second, which he did.
Car #3 was supposed to go third, which he did but that doesn’t matter for this.
The problem was that Car #2 waited until Car #1 had gone completely through the intersection. You’re both going straight through; your paths will not cross – start driving as soon as you can.
I probably wouldn’t have thought much about it, but then it was my turn. I’m Car #1:
We were turning left, and the guy to our left was turning right. We should be able to both go at the same time without any conflict. I was before him, so I went. He was next after me, but he waited until I had finished my turn before he started driving.
While that’s technically correct, it is also technically annoying. Sometimes there are 15-20 cars in line. If everyone waits until the other car has gone completely through the intersection, the guy at the end of the line could be idling for twice as long as he should be.
Take advantage of your blocking, people.
If I were Car #2, I would have made my turn as soon as Car #1 started turning. If I were Car #2 and the order was really 1-3-2, I still would have gone as soon as Car #1 started turning. Some people might think that is cutting, but he can’t go until Car #1 gets out of his way. Keep the pipeline full. Out-of-order execution makes microprocessors run more efficiently; the same concept can make intersections better.
Conclusion:
My wife and I agree that it should be made into a roundabout. That way, we wouldn’t have to stop much of the time.
When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him;He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.
Job 23:9
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:09 pm and has been carefully placed in the Driving category.
November 23rd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
I agree with you, but what’s more annoying than the above is when people do not wait their turn and go before they should. I inform them that I was next, not them, but they never seem to hear me through the windshield.
November 23rd, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I always get the people waving at me to go through ahead of them. It’s their turn but they start waving for me to go. OK, I will.
November 24th, 2010 at 6:36 am
I like the kind of people Erin described, I get very angry with the people Phoebe described. I too, loudly remind them it was my turn. Didn’t we learn in kindergarten not to cut? Hmph.
November 24th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Yes to the roundabout. I like roundabouts, even though lots of people seem to dislike them.
Here’s a problem: they’re introducing roundabouts the wrong way here. They keep building big complicated roundabouts at big busy intersections, and then nobody likes them because they think they’re confusing. Key example: that horrible situation in Brighton.
What they should have been doing is first building small, simple roundabouts at rural four-way stop intersections. That would provide a much less stressful introduction to roundabouts, and it would eliminate unnecessary time- and fuel-wasting stops when there’s no one else at the intersection. That way, when they did build bigger roundabouts at busy intersections, people would have been familiar with the concept, and the transition from small one-lane roundabouts to bigger two-lane roundabouts would have been smoother.
But nooooo…the people in charge want to make big publicity splashes by building big roundabouts in busy areas. Thanks a lot, publicity hounds — way to make people hate roundabouts for no good reason.
One last thing. To all who aren’t yet comfortably familiar with the idea of a roundabout: YIELD DOESN’T MEAN STOP. If there’s nobody in the roundabout, you can just drive through without stopping. If you think roundabouts aren’t efficient, there’s a good chance you have a habit of stopping at yield signs even when there’s no traffic in the roundabout. DON’T DO THAT.
November 28th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
ROUNDABOUND.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ljFfL-mL70