A “rolling stop,” is an OXYMORON it really is the practice of slowing as you enter an intersection in the HOPE that you could stop in time if another driver was in your path, and it is reckless.
It is hardly possible to stop a moving vehicle in time to prevent an accident.
It is nothing new, the illegality of running stop signs and red lights.
People need to learn how to drive. A red light means stop...not tap your breaks and slide around a corner. If it takes extreme measures to stop the senseless killings, fine with me. Personally, I learned that at about 5 years of age on my bicycle not to run red lights and stop signs and have never been the cause of a problem, since.
How many people need to get hurt or lose their lives because someone wants to avoid waiting a FEW SECONDS to turn.
If someone runs a red light or stop sign and hurts or kills your wife, husband, parent or children, who is that good for.
These are the exact kinds of accidents where people do get killed or maimed.
Even ambulance drivers are required to “stop.” Why, because it is so deadly...not only for other passengers of vehicles, but also pedestrians and bicyclists.
Two firefighters killed in wreck
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=24604
Two children killed in Rogers County wreck
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100917_11_0_Tocide819870&allcom=1
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Statistics show that every 111 minutes one pedestrian is killed due to driving negligence, which is caused either due to running a stop sign or not giving the right of the way to pedestrians at a pedestrian crossing.
Out of all the traffic-related deaths that occurred in 1991, 2.6 percent of deaths were caused due to running of a stop sign. It is estimated that in United States, each year, around 5,000 pedestrians are killed and 64,000 injured. Many of the fatalities occur due to stop sign accidents and more fatalities occur in urban areas because of the sheer number of pedestrians and vehicles.
Between 1999 and 2000, 13,627 cars were involved in fatal car accidents. All these accidents were caused because the cars ran stop signs. This should give you an indication about how serious running stop signs can be not just for you, the driver, but also the pedestrian.
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The bottom line is that stop signs and red lights are not yield signs and just like speeding at high rate or changing lanes erratically or slamming on your bakes for no reason, it IS reckless driving. Learn to drive or pay the price for risking everyone else’s lives for your own STUPIDITY.
Depends. I have been at intersections where I never actually 'locked' my wheels but had time to look both ways and pull out only after verifying no traffic was coming. It is not always reckless.
What do my rotating wheels (whatever the rotational speed) have to do with the assessment as to the existence of oncoming or pedestrian traffic? If I can properly determine the existence (or lack thereof) of other motorists/foot traffic in 3 seconds of creeping at an intersection (I’m just making up an amount of time that isn’t zero), isn’t that the objective? Or does cessation of ANY movement qualify in your mind as THE sole determining factor as to whether a driver has properly checked for other traffic?
If some driver with a big, furry, sheepskin seat belt cover and those awesome over-the-glasses super-duper sunglasses is craning to see who’s coming from the left over his shoulder, does his stopped car mean he is taking the proper precaution at an intersection?
Or maybe, would you, (like me) prefer he *actually* look at and for any oncoming traffic before he proceeds?
Seems arbitrary to think that the mere fact that wheels have stopped rotating is the key element involved in assessing the right-of-way.
My comment was broader than the stop issue. What good comes from making penalties harsher? Do people obey b/c of it? Id say not and in the end wind up a slave for no reason. Drunk driving law is very strict but people keep doing it and the law still wasn’t able to save. The only ones who make out in the deal are the state and lawyers. So, while all you said was true how are stricter penalties going to solve the problem?
And therein lies the willingness to embrace totalitarianism. Let us take your affability to extreme measures, to ensure no rolling stops, to their extremes: You have no problem with a 2000+ dollar fine, I see. So how about a 10,000 dollar fine? How about forfeiture of a car? How about a mandatory year in jail? Ten years in prison okay with you? Cutting off a leg cool? How about the death penalty for a rolling stop? How about the killing of the entire immediate family for a rolling stop?
Excessive punishments are unconstitutional, for a reason. It is to prevent, in some small measure, tyranny.
I submit that a fine that would be the entire months earning power for an average man, for a single rolling stop, is excessive punishment.