Agree with degnaw, there's a road I used to take all the time that had a couple four way stops on it, you could make it through in under 10 minutes, a couple years ago they installed signals and they often has cars backed up 20 or 30 deep. Now it's normal to sit through a couple lights while there, often takes 20 minutes or more to drive it

I guess I drive differently than most people, when I come to a stop I look up and down the sidewalks if there is one, and (only) if it's clear I'll head on to the actual intersection, if it's not clear I'll hang back untill it is then move on.

Last fall I noticed that along 44th street here in GR michigan, they moved a lot of of the handicap ramps for the sidewalks on the side streets back15 or 20 feet further from the intersection, and left the stop signs where they were originally (near the old ramps). So if you stop at the sign, your rear fender is blocking the crosswalk.
I'm actually expecting people to start getting run over because it moves the crosswalk out of site of the main road, so people making the corner can't tell if the crosswalk clear, and people using the crosswalk can't tell if anyone is turning the corner.

Basically if your walking along 44th street (busy 4 lane, 45mph most of the way, main artery to the airport) when you reach a cross street, you turn the corner, walk up 20-30 feet then cross the road, it puts people where they aren't expected to be, and moves them out of site. Very bad planning in my opinion. Checked google street level and live maps birdseye, but neither are recent enough to show what I mean.

Ken.