Take Turns - What a Road Concept!

I drive quite a bit. Not only that, I drive all over the place instead of just back and forth on the same route. Because of this I see all manner of road setups and signage that bugs the heck out of me.

I get into some industrial areas where there are rail crossings - and every single one of them has a stop sign on the road, even though the chances of a train being in the area are almost nil, and when there is a train, there is always a flagman there to usher it across the intersection and ensure the car drivers really understand that the engine and cars are big enough to kill them and not notice.

The most egregious mis-use of stop signs I've seen recently is in a new shopping center here in Pitt Meadows. I've many times remarked to anyone who would listen that the person who designed the road system in this huge parking area had no training in how to do it, and got a great deal on a large number of stop signs and decided to use them all. There are stop signs where there is absolutely no reason to stop!

Today I watched a brief video from the TED series that hit home with me.

Gary lauder, the speaker, makes the point that there should be a new sign for many intersections - "Take Turns" - different from Yield or Stop; more like what you're supposed to do when you get to a traffic light that is out due to power outage - alternate.