First let me start with what it’s not. A stop sign is not a slow down sign. It’s not a “suggestion” to stop. It’s not a “stop after you’ve passed me” sign. It’s not an indication that you can disregard pedestrians who may or may not stop to wait for you because we know that you’re not planning on stopping.
What is a stop sign? Uh, a sign telling cars to stop. You’d think that’d be obvious, but you would be wrong. It is a warning that you need to stop AND wait BEHIND the sign. Yes, even if there’s no white line telling you “Hey, numb nuts, you may not proceed without coming to a complete halt (in case the word stop was throwing you off) before continuing past me!”
Sure, we all roll a stop sign on occasion, but add that up and that’s a lot of people failing to STOP!
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