• silverwhisper said on Jan 11, 2008....

  o heck yeah! :>
  
  we have 4-way stops here too. when i learned to drive, the accepted rule was that whoever arrived at the stop first has the right of way. naturally, the "right of way" manifests vastly more often as a conceptual ideal rather than reality, though... :>
  
  ed

• polarheart said on Jan 11, 2008....

  LOL ed!  It was the same in South Africa. . .and if there was confusion as to who arrived first it was always yeild to the right, but I suppose in the US its yeild to the left?

• silverwhisper said on Jan 11, 2008....

  you know, it's been so long since i've seen it done properly i'm no longer sure!
  
  [flushes]
  
  ed

• polarheart said on Jan 11, 2008....

  Ed, dont worry, as long as everybody gets to cross the road safely! LOL
   
  (And it must be ages since I spelled YIELD!  My word!!  It looks like a distorted version of "eyelid"!!)

• fearing said on Jan 11, 2008....

  There are as many  stop signs where I live as traffic lights. 

• polarheart said on Jan 11, 2008....

  Hi Fearingbabes!!  Do you also have speed humps?

• uniquely-ironic said on Jan 11, 2008....

  In the US the yield is to the right at a four way stop.  I think the only place I've seen speed bumps called speed humps in the US was in Hawaii.  Where I live there are stop signs everywhere.  I think they outnumber the lights about 4 to 1.

• MissMimi said on Jan 11, 2008....

  Lots of stop signs.  Although in my neighborhood, some see them as suggestions rather than commands.
   
   

• queenparanoia said on Jan 11, 2008....

  i dont see them often here in the philippines...

• beyondtheveil said on Jan 11, 2008....

  I can't drive two blocks anywhere in the US without a stop sign- well, maybe a few places. And if you don't make a complete stop, they give you a moving violation. 

• fearing said on Jan 11, 2008....

  We do have speed "bumps" in parking lots.  How about you?
   
  lmbo at MissM!!!

• MissMimi said on Jan 11, 2008....

  We don't have traffic circles.  How do those work?  They sound challenging, like entering a race track in the middle of a race.

• silverwhisper said on Jan 11, 2008....

  how do they work? poorly!
  
  actually i always found them pretty straightforward.
  
  ed

• polarheart said on Jan 11, 2008....

  U-I, that's really interesting.  I thought since you guys drive on the right hand side of the road you'd yield to the left.  Both in SA and in the UK we drive on the left and yield to the right.  LOL  I said humps instead of bumps :-))
   
  Mimikins, yup many people treat STOP signs as suggestions!   Your comment reminded me of a joke but I'm too lazy to type it out now ;-)
   
  Queen, hmmm that is interesting.  Do you drive on the right or the left of the road?
   
  Beyond, it was like that in South Africa too!
   
  Feathers, yes but rather small irritating ones. . .in SA we had ones the size of mountains! LOL!
   
  Mimikins, traffic circles (roundabouts) work rather well here in the UK. . .I dont think crossroads exist here. . .there are always roundabouts.  The good thing about them is that if you take a wrong exit you can just go round the circle and correct yourself again, LOL!
   
  Ed, I agree, but some people (like Mr Polar) puts himself in the wrong lane for where he wants to exit the traffic circle and then has to cut across, much to the annoyance of other drivers!

• evil_twin said on Jan 11, 2008....

  I didn't realize Stop signs weren't a universal traffic thing. We have them everywhere here. In fact there's a big joke about the California rolling stop. That's where you just slow down at the sign and then keep going. Totally illegal, but everyone does it, so us crazy California drivers gave it an actual name :-P
  
  -evil_twin LA
  

• skald said on Jan 11, 2008....

  Polar.  I can't remember how it was in England and Scotland when I was there years ago  I even can't remember well how it was to have left hand driving but we  had that until I was 22. But I know we have a lot of stop signs, wait signs and millions round abouts. lol 

• uniquely-ironic said on Jan 11, 2008....

  ET - LOL I have been guilty of that!  I hate stopping at every block in some neighborhoods where there is no one around.
   
  Polar - Do you guys have left hand turns at the traffic signals when they are red?  In the US you may turn right at a stop light if there is no oncoming traffic.

• Twylarants said on Jan 11, 2008....

  We have speed humps and bumps here in NC.
  Humps are lower in height but longer length, or width, I guess. They aren't as jarring to drive over and they're only meant to slow you down a little.
  Bumps are higher and not as wide as humps. You have to nearly stop to drive over them without damaging your car.  They're used on streets where there are a lot of children and pedestrians.  We have very few neighborhoods with sidewalks, so humps and bumps are the only way to keep the residents safe.  We also have "suicide lanes" on the highways, although they're not called highways down here, just roads.  If you want to turn left off the road into a store parking lot, you pull into the suicide lane and wait for a break in the traffic. A car coming toward you will pull right up to your car to wait for a chance to turn into a driveway on the other side of the road.  It's terrifying until you get used to it.  I can't even explain the way they make u-turns on the highway, it defies logic.  You stay to your left while waiting to u-turn, essentially obstructing the view of anyone trying to u-turn from the opposite  direction.  They, in turn, obstruct your view, so you both wait until you think it's safe, then inch out.  I questioned a cop friend and she said yup, that's the law.  There are fatal accidents every day on our local roads because of these suicide lanes and u-turns.
  
  

• Eilan said on Jan 11, 2008....

  I lived near a town that had a roundabout.  It seemed to be set up rather poorly, as I recall, since drivers had to change lanes once they were in it in order to get out.  I just tended to avoid that intersection.
  
  Where I live, people seem to get confused at multiple-stop intersections.  And if there's a power outage and the traffic lights don't work, that's even worse!
  

• hotaka said on Jan 11, 2008....

  We have "Tomare" (three sylables) which means stop. In New Zealand I never saw stop signs, only "Give Way" signs. Come to think of it, outside the big cities I didn't see traffic lights in NZ either.

• polarheart said on Jan 12, 2008....

  Twinny, that is funny.  Do you guys get fined if caught doing that?  Or do the cops do the same thing? LOL
   
  Skald, so you have stop signs and lots of roundabouts??  That is an interesting mix.  I think here in the UK the use of roundabouts has obliterated the STOP sign.
   
  U-I, yes we do have left hand turns at traffic lights, but there will be an indicating green arrow to the left showing that you can turn left whilst the light is red for the traffic going straight.  If there is no indicating left turn arrow you may not turn.  It would have been nice if it worked the way you guys have it :-)
   
  Twyla, yes those hiddeous little bumps that are so damaging to the cars - those are the ones we have at the mall car parks.  And we have the big "gentle" one in some of the suburbs.  Suicide lanes certainly dont sound like something I want to ever have to face!  And U-turns are illegal on most roads esp highways (which are called motorways here). . .thats why they have Roundabouts - LOL.  You are expected to keep driving until you find an exit of the highway then go around the roundabout which is at the end and then go back in the opposite direction.  In any event, there are huge concrete barriers in the middle of the highways which prevent U-turns!
   
  Eilan, I use to dread roundabouts when I got to the UK, but one just has to learn how to use them coz there is just no avoiding it here.  Because people here dont understand the concept of a 4-way stop here it is UTTER confusion when the traffic lights are out - - - not to mention very dangerous!!
   
  Hotcakes, that is really interesting.  On which side of the road to you guys drive in Japan?

• merlin said on Jan 12, 2008....

  Isnt it funny that sometimes we dönt realise how diferent things are in other countries,even something as smal as a stop sign

• hotaka said on Jan 12, 2008....

  It's on the left over here. I am now ambidexterous when it comes to putting on the windshield wipers.

• polarheart said on Jan 12, 2008....

  Merlin, very true my dear.  Small things can make a BIG difference.
   
  Hotcakes, oh cool so I could drive in Japan too, but I dont even want to think about having to drive on the right hand side of the road!!  I have also done the windscreen thing! LOL

• skald said on Jan 12, 2008....

  Of course the stop signs are not were the round abouts are. Then in some neighborhoods there are endless bumps to take care of that you don't drive too fast. It is not good for the back of bus drivers who go there all day. 

• polarheart said on Jan 12, 2008....

  Skaldikins, I must admit that I did not think the stop signs were at the roundabouts, I meant that there are lots of both around town :-)  I can just imagine what it must be like for the poor bus drivers. . .it must be like going over one bump twice!  Poor guys!  What is the speed limit in the suburbs and on the highways in Iceland?

• queenparanoia said on Jan 12, 2008....

  polar: we drive at the right side of the road... =)

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