Driving Pet Peeves

Stop Signs: All stop signs should function as yield signs. Yield signs signify to stop only if there is danger of other drivers. Stop signs signify to stop even if there is no danger of other drivers. The only function I see from the stop and yield signs is to signify how fast one can approach the intersection. For example, stop signs are usually planted where in order to assess the presence of other drivers, one must approach the intersection at a very low speed, from zero to five miles per hour. While yield signs are usually placed on on-ramps where one can approach at much higher rates of speed. Even though one must approach the intersections with stop signs at a low speed, it is not always necessary to come to a complete stop, hence the California roll. The only reason to come to a full stop is to fulfill the letter of the law.

Turn Signals:I think in most cases, the use of turn signals is unnecessary. I drove extensively in Boston and you get used to looking at drivers intentions via their positioning on the road, their acceleration, and their velocity. Because you can decipher a driver's intentions without turn signals, their use is often redundant. If you expect someone to use their turn signals if they are going to turn, then you leave yourself open to risky situations. Therefore, turn signals are inherently unreliable if some drivers use them while others don't. Even when someone uses their signal, when there are other indications of them not intending to turn, such as not beginning to slow down, people still don't rely on the information conveyed by the turn signal and wait until you do show the above mentioned indications of turning, effectively making the turn signal useless in the majority of cases.

The only cases I find it to be useful is on the highway. When you are sandwiched within a pack of cars and you want to switch lanes, most likely to get over for an exist, turn signals convey the communication effectively while the other indicators would probably be associated with aggressive driving. Turn signals also show their value in similar situations where traffic results in high speed, close proximity driving.