Now that the intersection of Salem and Pleasant streets is a 4-way stop, stand by for indignant complaints from drivers who have never come to a complete stop at a STOP sign in their entire lives. If those drivers are looking for someone to blame for this new arrangement, I suggest that they tilt their rear-view mirrors slightly down and to the left.

The new 4-way stop would not be necessary if one driver had ever come to a full stop at the Pleasant Street STOP signs. But the next time that happens will be the very first time.

I don’t like the new 4-way stop. It will cause traffic to back up on Salem Street and it is going to personally inconvenience me at least twice a day. But I agree with the decision to implement it because drivers refuse to follow basic traffic rules.

Even now, I don’t expect to see anyone to come to a complete stop at Salem and Pleasant streets. But the frequent accidents at this intersection will likely be less serious now, as cars slowly roll through the STOP signs from all four directions.

There’s nothing worse than a reformed scofflaw like me. About 10 years ago, I was pulled over and ticketed for rolling through a STOP sign in another town. Ever since, I’ve made a point of noticing how many drivers in front of me come to a full stop at STOP signs.

Answer: zero and counting. In my entire life behind the wheel, I could probably count on one hand the number of drivers I’ve seen come to a complete stop at a STOP sign.

Ever since my own violation a decade ago and the resulting ticket, fine and years of insurance surcharges, I have made it a practice to come to a full stop at all STOP signs. As you can imagine, this has not endeared me to the motorists behind me, who often have had to slam on their brakes to avoid a rear-end collision because I actually stopped. This is often accompanied by a blast of a horn and a finger gesture because apparently, I’m the bad guy.

Even worse than drivers ignoring STOP signs are the ones who have the right of way (no STOP sign) but stop anyway. For some reason, this had been an especially frequent occurrence at Salem and Pleasant streets.

Just last week (before the change), I turned right from Main Street onto Salem Street and continued up the hill behind a white Mercedes E 300. When we got to the top of the hill at Pleasant Street, Mr. Mercedes stopped for no reason whatsoever and proceeded to wave cars through the STOP signs on Pleasant Street.

Being the helpful type, I gave a 10-second toot of my horn to remind him that there was no STOP sign, and we had the right of way.

I suppose Mr. Mercedes thought he was being kind to the drivers waiting on Pleasant Street by waving them through the STOP signs. But what about all the drivers behind him on Salem Street? We were forced to stop and wait for no reason so this bonehead could feel good about himself.

But that’s not even the worst part.

As we continued down Salem Street, you can probably guess what happened when Mr. Mercedes reached the STOP sign at Vernon Street. That’s right – he blew right through it like it wasn’t even there. His brake lights didn’t even come on.

If you want to know why there is now a 4-way stop at Salem and Pleasant streets, I offer Mr. Mercedes as Exhibit A.
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[This column originally appeared in the August 10, 2023 Wakefield Daily Item.]