Beware The Sign That Doesn't

So, what is it about this sign? We put complete trust in it; trusting our own lives and the lives of everyone that we know and love. We trust it many times a day near home and around the world. Yet, it doesn't make drivers do what it says any more than a sign saying that the speed limit is 25 makes drivers proceed below 30. What's the deal?

Let's analyze it. The intent of the message contained upon this simple, universally recognized, sign seems fairly unambiguous. Stop means, well, stop: all the time. Not stop when it looks like there are other cars, or stop when I see a police officer, or stop when I'm not running late, or stop when I haven't already stopped for 5 other stop signs in the last 5 blocks, or stop when I happen to be off my phone and paying attention, or stop when I think a stop makes sense here, or the other multiple reasons why we may decide that we should actually stop when we see one of these signs.

In our town, stopping at these conflict points can seem quite tedious at times, especially when we're proceeding down a long straight neighborhood street with stop signs placed at each block. Show of hands now. How many of you have failed to completely stop at a stop sign because of that or any of the other reasons above? Yup, me too, as I'm sure most anyone that you'll see driving today has done or is about to do.

So, what can we know about these signs for sure? Well, we know for sure that sometimes drivers will come to a complete stop there and sometimes they won't. We also know for sure that everyone is assuming that everyone else will stop there and so I can trust my life to it.

As we've learned before, then, beware the sign that doesn't. Just because there's a sign is no guarantee of safety. We all need to drive as if the other driver is trusting their lives to us, but isn't showing us the same care.

Be safe.