The car enthusiasts news blog from Inside Line

Does the World Really Need This Sign Now?

By Ed Hellwig | March 15, 2010

Some guy named Gary Lauder thinks so. He used his appearance at a recent TED conference to introduce the idea of a combined stop/yield sign that he claims would save all sorts of money, gas and time.

Although we don't disagree with Gary on the idea of reducing the number of stop signs to keep traffic flowing, we're not sure this is the best alternative.

TED

Categories: Trends

7 Comments

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flicmod says:

10:57 AM, 03/15/10

Maybe this doesn't make sense in LA, but i know for a fact that the situation that Mr. Lauder brings up happens often where I'm from. By FHWA regulations, stop signs must be posted on the main street if sight distance is restricted and deemed unsafe on any of the approaches, 3-way or 4-way. And this is true regardless of the volume that the main roadway has. So, this means that there are situations where the main street has to stop even though there are less than 10 cars per hour coming from the side street. That makes little sense.

This idea is like an in between a stop and a yield, as he mentioned. And it makes perfect sense from an economical standpoint as well as from logical one.

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petrolhead85 says:

11:20 AM, 03/15/10

But think of all the lost revenue from those BS "rolling stop" tickets!

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flicmod says:

11:25 AM, 03/15/10

Another reason to implement the sign, petrolhead85!

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inlinesix says:

03:35 PM, 03/15/10

"But think of all the lost revenue from those BS "rolling stop" tickets!"

yup.

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autojunkie2 says:

06:24 AM, 03/16/10

If they would actually teach people what a YIELD is actually supposed to mean then we wouldn't have this problem.

"Allow for the right-of-way and proceed with caution when safe"

HOW FRIGGIN' HARD IS THAT!!!!

I've seen people in front of me stop for no damn reason, at a yield sign, when there is no right-of-way traffic. I've seen people not stop at all and just cut people off completely. Worse yet, my pregnant wife was rear-ended by some white-trash idiot (he had no license) who yelled at her for stopping (yielding to the right-of-way heavy traffic).

Between stupid signs like these, the Toyota problem, and the rise in teenage car-related deaths, it just proves that our training of drivers in this country SUCKS!

Simply put, this new sign is for IDIOTS!

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hollowtek says:

09:01 AM, 03/16/10

sorry this will not work- especially in areas filled with illegal immigrants. and i apologize deeply, but since they don't want to learn to read or speak english, we might as well make the signs in spanish too. hell i don't even think that will help. everyone in this damn country thinks they own the road.

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flicmod says:

02:01 PM, 03/16/10

@ hollowtek:

I'm sorry, but that comment is offensive and racist. Firstly, to assume that all "illegal immigrants" speak Spanish is ignorant. Secondly, and more on topic, there are numerous signs in existence already that contain written messages in the English language. In fact, most signs do. Not only that, but there are several different standardized signs that look the same, save for text of a street name, restricted movement, warnings, etc.