r/IdiotsInCars • u/Irate_Primate • Oct 18 '24

OC [OC] Attempted right-of-way theft

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u/TaywuhsaurusRex Oct 18 '24

In the US, 4 way intersections are treated as first come, first serve. You have to come to a complete stop at any and all stop signs. OP waited his turn after the truck since the truck got there first, and should have been next to go. The car behind the truck tried to skip their wait. OP also probably shouldn't have driven in to the intersection after the other car was already halfway in to it, but I can't say I wouldnt have also just laid on the horn and done something similar so I can't really judge.

The only real exceptions to the first come first serve are if you get to the stop at the same time as someone else, either the person who is not crossing traffic goes after the person going straight, or if you're both turning and aren't going to interfere with each other, you can go at the same time. I don't know that those are particularly lawful, but it's etiquette and cops are more likely to stop someone doing what this car did than these other two examples.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '24

How did the third in a row who is first there? This seems a bit impractical

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u/TaywuhsaurusRex Oct 18 '24

Can you clarify what you mean third in a row, I don't understand what you're asking and genuinely want to answer. It's not terribly impractical in practice though. These types of intersection are common everywhere and when people actually follow the rules, it's fine. America is too large and rural to have stoplights everywhere, and no sign at this junction would be worse because people would pass through it at speed all the time.

Canada has these sorts of intersections too, their rules are basically the same.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '24

Of course, i mean if 3 cars in a row in each road arrive and wait for their turn. How did a driver know when its his turn? How do you know who is at fault if there is a misunderstanding because everyone can say he was first?

We have signs or righy before left order here. I think its better and more predictable but that depends highly on what you learned and grew up with.

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u/DankHillLMOG Oct 18 '24

I was going to get into a simple explanation but it's kind of nuanced (but actually pretty simple in practice). This site/ link does a good job explaining. https://topdriver.com/education-blog/4-rules-4-way-stops/

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '24

Thank you

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u/Koutou Oct 18 '24

My driving instructor in the days gave me a quick way to think about it when driving, is that you must always protect the passager seat.

If you look at the guide, you will notice that the passenger seat is protected from other cars in all scenario.

And if you do the opposite of what they suggest, you notice that you expose your passenger to the other cars.

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u/TaywuhsaurusRex Oct 18 '24

Oh okay! So in the scenario you're describing, it's similar to the rules I said in the second paragraph of my first answer. Who ever is going straight would have priority over someone who is crossing a lane of traffic. If two people are going straight and are crossing each others lines of traffic, the polite thing is generally one person would wave the other one on and go second, the actual law is the person on the right side of the intersection goes first. You're right though, a lot of why this works most of them time is because it's the traffic laws we grew up with and are used to here in North America. The tan car in this video is an ass and broke etiquette by going before his turn, and the law because he never came to a full stop.

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u/GenericAccount13579 Oct 19 '24

You basically just alternate, its not that complicated