It would be similar to other traffic regulations, such as no turns during a posted period and car pool only onramp lanes, in that the common rules would change under posted conditions. As the car ahead of you drives through the intersection, you would follow it without stopping again at the line. It would apply to single lane streets during peak periods. This would shorten commute times along these busy smaller streets, where traffic often backs up into 10+ lines during the morning and afternoon rushes.
-- miggavin, Oct 06 2005

Does this mean that I should not pull out from behind a stop line unless I believe the 15 cars behind me can also make it. I may be waiting some time.
-- st3f, Oct 06 2005


How close should I be to the next car to follow it? Who's to judge that I am that distance? How is a stop sign measured to be busy?
-- Jinbish, Oct 06 2005


At home, this is called "running a stop sign" and can be ruled an infraction. Emphasis on "can be"; caveat accelerator.
-- reensure, Oct 06 2005


I'm not sure what you mean stf3. 2 cars at a time. Jinbish, you would have to be stopped behind the car stopped at the line. It's common for administrators to be informed of their city's traffic patterns, and implementation would only follow careful traffic studies. Quite often, intersection traffic varies little at similar times on weekdays. This would likely apply during the high flow 7-9am 4-6pm periods at uncommonly bottlenecked intersections.
-- miggavin, Oct 06 2005


"I'm not sure what you mean stf3."
At the moment, when I pull out from behind a stop line I do so when my car can safely do so. If I know that the car behind me is going to pull out with me (using my judgement rather than their own) I am not going to be able to use some of the smaller gaps in traffic and will be waiting behind the stop line for longer.

The number 15 was my being facetious. There is a risk of more than one car following me through the stop line and with that risk comes the possibility that each successive car will follow the one in front to the point where they can no longer see the original car that made a informed choice as to whether it was safe to pull out.

Is that clearer?
-- st3f, Oct 07 2005


if the car in front of you jumped off a bridge would you? this idea suggests you would. perhaps the driver in front of you doesn't see the oncoming truck.
-- schmendrick, Oct 07 2005


Stop signs are also used in the UK, but I think more often there are "Give way" signs. The strict "must stop" is not enforced in the same way as with which you seem to suffer. A rolling start is much smoother and quicker, giving better traffic flow.
-- Ling, Oct 07 2005


_Maybe_ it could work where all lanes at the interesection were controlled by stop signs (ie- 4 Way or All Way stops).
-- half, Oct 07 2005


I thought of it for four way stops, usually residential, where there is heavy traffic, with little cross traffic. Stf, people wouldn't conga line through the intersection just as they don't normally run red lights and stop signs. Here's a common scenario; You've just pulled up to a 4-way stop line, and the oncoming car is ready to go, but the cross traffic has been stopped longer than you, do you wait for another cycle? No, you go through when the oncoming car does, because the cross traffic won't be able to go anyhow, so waiting wouldn't do any good. Now let's say there are lines of 10 cars stopped on each side of one street, and a steady flow of 2 cars stopped on each side of the cross street. When I pull up as the 11th car, I'm waiting while new cross traffic comes, waits in a 2 car line, and then goes ahead of me, so to speak. But if 2 cars for every one of the cross traffic cars go, or even 2 for 2, traffic would remain organized but flow more efficiently, like adding another lane. It hardly takes any more time for 2 to go through than for one, or for one to go and one to turn, and once drivers are used to it, it will feel normal. People break traffic laws, but it wouldn't be a pain to follow this rule, it's useful. And schmendrick, this isn't a slippery slope. 4 way stops; small streets; specific rules. You can see about you a car length from the line as well as you can from the line.
-- miggavin, Oct 07 2005


Oncoming car moving ahead. Car to your right (Yank) waiting longer than you, car to your right has right of way. Oncoming car moving ahead. Car to your right (Brit) waiting longer than you, go ahead ... right of way is yours.

Why don't people just follow the road rules?
-- reensure, Oct 07 2005


This exists for freeway onramp stoplights. In US. So... it works safely and promotes traffic flow.
-- miggavin, Sep 09 2015


There was an intersection in Banda Aceh that worked like this, except even larger scale. It was at least two lanes each direction, and the equivalent of a four-way stop, with no signals or signs. The traffic would just flow through on one street for a while, until the folks on the cross street started inching forward enough to impede the flow, which would decrease and stop entering the intersection, and the drivers in the cross street would all start moving for a while.

Here in Missouri, some drivers will go out of order if the next guy at the four-way is blocked by the currently-moving car. I haven't seen anybody double-up as suggested, but it could be done with some practice. I know there are rules about where to stop for a stop sign, but if a clear view is available, exact location doesn't really matter. I'd go if I knew it was safe, and if I had come to a complete stop at some point.

In the idea as posted, there is no mandate for leading the cars behind me, they aren't my concern or responsibility. I am not waiting for a gap big enough for anyone else.
-- baconbrain, Sep 13 2015



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