Asklemmy

44151 readers

1797 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

132

Why are Stop Lines (in the US, at least) often set too far back to see any crossing traffic? (sub.wetshaving.social)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

52 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've seen them called "Stop Lines", "Balk Line", etc. The thick line painted on the road at a Stop Sign.

You're supposed to stop before the line, but a lot of the time there's a bush or other obstruction so you can't see any crossing traffic. You have to creep forward until you can see anything.

Is there a reason for this? Is it done on purpose? It makes sense if there's a crosswalk or something, but I see it a lot where there shouldn't be any pedestrian activity.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 42 points 8 months ago (2 children)

For stoplights, the stop line being comically far back is often so buses and trucks have room to make a big turn without colliding with your vehicle. If you're at an intersection where the stop line is in an absurd place, it's usually better to stop there rather than stopping wherever and running the risk of finding out why it is that you were supposed to stop way back.

For stop signs, I have no idea. Maybe it means the traffic engineer was drunk that day or something; IDK.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There is an intersection on the south side of providence RI that is like this and every single day someone is way out there like they supposed to stop up with the other two lanes and they end up trying to back up into a line of stopped cars while a city bus honks at them

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Now that you mention it, even if you stop at the stop line, it's still very possible to not see any crossing traffic and then start creeping forward only for a bus to appear. By then it's too late.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

The lines at intersections with traffic lights make sense to me, especially since they all have crosswalks, etc. in my area.