Sure to get flamed but...
 

was riding in today when I got stopped by a VERY long train. Afterwards I'm trying to make up for lost time as I'm cruising through the warehouse district behind Mile High Stadium and I cruise through this four way stop (which I can't imagine a need for). As I pass through I see a cop stick his head out his window and say "HEY!! You're suppose to stop at the stop signs!". I didn't really know what to say and I was still cruising so I yelled a "OK!" over my shoulder as I hauled on. I'm surprised I didn't get a ticket, but at the same time why would I need to do that back in the warehouse district where there is literally no one around ever? (except of course this cop :) ) VCers warm up your flamethrowers, but this really gets to me sometimes.

Perhaps that stop sign earns it's presence at other times. The copper barked at you, which seems appropriate. You affirmed--reasonably. So where's the problem here?

Yeah, I hear ya... and this is not a flame, so you can put down the shiney metal jacket. Sometimes it really doesn't make sense. But the first time you cruise a sign and someone else is doing the same thing from the other direction... that exhale you make as you just miss each other should be enough to remind you of what the cop said.

I was stopped by a cop early one morning while cruising the beach area. I had on panniers and it was so early on a weekend morning that none of the regular beach crowd had even thought to open an eye... so I too was "cruising" signs.

Cop told me the first one bothered him a bit, the second one really got him going, but when I ran the third sign, he just had to act... He gave me a warning after a bit of conversation. Thought it quite decent of him.

But it does make me think whenever I get the urge to cruise a sign...

Okay,

Fwoosh!

I honor traffic lights, but in all honesty, I treat a stop sign as an indication of who has the right of way.

DANG YOU DAVID! DANG YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

Sorry, can't flame even if I try.
I suppose my day will come. At least I slow to a virtual stop most of the time.

Must stop. Must use hand signals. Must....ugh
This is getting too freaking complicated :p

Outright blitzing of the STOP is, well...dicey. Especially if one is to demand equal access and rights to the roads as cars. (I do!)
However...I'll admit that I don't always come to a full stop. I do slow to a crawl and look...I just don't always want to put a foot down.
There is one traffic light on my commute that switches based on a detector, and it doesn't pick me up 100% of the time. So, I stop, and give it a while, and when it is evident that it will not turn, and there are no cars posing a cross traffic hazard, or cars to "trigger" the light for me, I'll consider the spirit of the law complied with, and happily bolt on through.
Why don't we have a "flamethrower" smilie. That would have been fun to place here.

You must stop, dismount, walk to the intersection, yell to all directions for good measure, mount again, yell some more, and then you are OK.

I moon at all stop signs!:D

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: Seriously dude!! That is funny:D

Around here in New jersey you bet I stop at all stop signs. But it isn't the police who worry me.

Cheers,

Brian

We've all done it, it seems like your response was "OK". No biggie, cop just wanted to let you know next time try to stop.

John

I try and stop enough to stay balanced without having to put a foot down if there is no traffic coming. Half the time the cars are so confused to see a bike stopping at a sign that they wave me ahead. Have a few stories about them though. Keep in mind this is on my commute to school in a college town.

So one day im slowing down at a stop sign and there is another car at the other side of the street who beat me there. Suddenly I hear this screech of tires and look behind me to see this lady who had slammed on her breaks to not rear end me giving me a dirty look because I had the audacity to stop at a STOP sign! I made a gesture at the sign and crossed the street.

Last year two or three of my friends actually got tickets for running stop signs on thier bikes. They went to the court to pay and were told something like 170 bucks. They were shocked and said they were just on bikes. The person responded "Oh, bikes? Then its only 140" Needless to say, I always try and stop...usually.

The traffic engineer that created the "four way stop" should be drawn and quartered. It is a perfect example of how you can make it thru college and still be stupid.

Personally I just ride right through stop signs if there is no traffic. I don't go fast and I ride at a speed that even if someone was doing the exact same thing I'd be able to avoid hitting them.

There's no need to have people stop at all four streets. Just two will do...

Ok, aside from making absolutely no sense traffic wise, this 4-way stop sign thing intrigues me ... we don't have them down here in Australia. So what do you do if 4 cars arrive at the intersection at the same time? How do you determine who has right of way? Or do all 4 just charge into the intersection together and hope they don't meet in the middle? :p

>>> So what do you do if 4 cars arrive at the intersection at the same time. . .How do you determine who has right of way. . .do all 4 just charge into the intersection together

Sooo glad you asked, mate!! Well, it's a good old-fashioned testosterone-soaked Cold War face-off. Like everything else here, it's all about the biggest, baddest, most beat up, best insured vehicle at the stop. For my part, I give the palm up "go ahead" to everyone else 'cause I shot my testosterone bolt LONG ago and no longer give a Cube Root of a Fat D@mn who goes first. By the way, vehicles over $25K and any vehicle with "Ram" in its name seem to be entitled to go first however the order of their arrival. Like the rules for the Tour de France, it's complicated.

genec and CastIron have it right. The cop was perfectly reasonable. You committed a no-harm-no-foul traffic violation, which earned you a cautionary word from a cop. And the cop was reasonable by not using his discretion not to write you a ticket.

But genec is right about blowing stop signs. You can do it, but you'd better be absolutely sure that no one is around. Unless you're paying careful attention, you might get surprised by a car that you assumed wasn't there.

Come on man. Follow the rule!

The rule is "No Cop, No Stop." Clearly, you were in violation. :D

So it's like the tree falling in the forest thing,eh?

If there is no police officer to actually see you run the stop sign, did it really ever happen? ;)

I couldn't agree more.

Personally, I think that all stop sign should be replaced with yield signs, placed prior to crosswalks. I fail to see any way that society benefits from all vehicles coming to a complete stop all of the time. It just makes more sense to proceed with caution, and only stop when vehicle or pedestian traffic dictates.

so cyclists actually have to stop as well at a stop sign? i didn't know that... or is it just like that down in the states? because i dont see ne cyclists stoping except for traffic lights here in canada :p

I dunno. Can you come up with a better solution that isn't more expensive?

Danno said it in post #15. Two less stop signs to erect. Sounds cheaper to me.

;)