Baffling STOP Sign Logic Puzzle

Dolores Park Works got a letter from the SFMTA indicating that STOP signs on 19th and Dolores are inappropriate:

“STOP signs are primarily used to define right-of-way where it may be unclear. This intersection is presently controlled by a STOP sign on 19th [on Cumberland], thus vehicles on this street must stop and yield…installation of an all-way STOP could also lead to incomplete stops and increase potential for rear-end and collisions.”

So STOP signs are inappropriate because there is already a STOP sign on 19th and Cumberland, two streets that are actually parallel. Is this an elaborate math problem in which we are to assume Dolores Park exists in a non-Euclidean space?

Furthermore, STOP signs aren’t appropriate because the assumption is that cars generally don’t stop at them and the ones that do will get into rear-end accidents. Things really must have really gone downhill since I took my written drivers license exam when I was 15 and a half. I guess it’s time I got a new DMV handbook.

Get the full scoop at DPW.

11 Responses to “Baffling STOP Sign Logic Puzzle”

  1. travis says:

    Is STOP an acronym now? Why the shouty letters?

    I think Wikipedia’s current first-line definition is a lot more accurate than “primarily used to define right-of-way” –

    “A stop sign is a graphic traffic sign signal, erected at road junctions, to instruct one to be still and not proceed until the path is clear.”

  2. John Doe says:

    Dolores is the main street here; 19th and Cumberland are side streets and already have stop signs. There’s no need for an all-way stop.

  3. That’s ridiculous. “Yield” signs define right of way, not Stop signs.

  4. SlobDog says:

    Maybe they could at least put in the those “blinkey” cross walks like they have on 25th St. in San Mateo (and probably a ton of other places I’m not familiar with). TBH, I’ve never found a blinkey cross walk in SF. Clement street would be nice as well.

  5. Ferocious Foot Odor says:

    An entire generation raised without ever hearing the word “no.” Its what makes you great, but it also makes you crybabies.

  6. Aaron Mayfield-Sunshine says:

    if non-euclidean geometry is involved, then we know that the planning department has been taken over cthulu.

  7. t-bone says:

    Seen cars honk at pegs in the crosswalks and blow thru

  8. sean p says:

    If you really want to blow drivers’ minds, install a flashing yellow light.