Driving me sane! 


Jim reflects on the cardinal zen of driving 

As I drove down Arkansas Street to Arsenal this morning for my rich dark pecan roll and café latte at The Bread Company, I was once again reminded of what a pain it is to drive in St. Louis. Here, there are frequent stop lights on every major street. On almost every side street, there is a stop sign at almost every corner. In a 10 block stretch down Arkansas from Shenandoah, for example, one stops six or seven times. Over the years and decades, frustrated drivers here have invented what is known locally as "the St. Louis stop." That is, in St. Louis, nobody stops at stop signs on side streets, except the just-learning-to-drive and the needs-to-quit-driving-now set (into which set I move as we speak). What actually happens at such intersections is that people tap their breaks a couple of times after first checking for any visible patrol cars, children, dogs, and then move right on through the intersection. We figure adult pedestrians ought to be able to take care of themselves.

What is most interesting and more than a bit nerve-wracking, is what happens when two cars reach a St. Louis side-street intersection at the same time. Actually, I have observed quite a variety of events. There is the larger-than-car driver, jammed back against the driver's seat, cell-phone arm glued to body, who stares defiantly straight ahead, and rams right through the intersection. I have yet to play a game of chicken with those guys and gals. And then there is the ram-stopper. This happens when a car is on a side street with a stop sign that crosses the one you are barreling along. They see you coming, but they roar up to the intersection, slam on the breaks, and stop about two feet out into the cross street just as you are passing them. You have to play chicken with these drivers; they are begging you to. And then, there is the official St. Louis stop. To do this successfully, your car must absolutely never slow to more than 7 mph. When you and another committed St. Louis stop driver reach the intersection at the same time, there just is no telling who is going to make it through first. However, by some incredible miracle, someone DOES make it through first, and the other may actually have to slow to, say 5 mph. This is embarrassing and not something you share with others, even with your spouse. It can really throw you off-balance for hours. I'd say that about 80% of the stops at side-street intersections in St. Louis are . . . St. Louis stops.

Well, the other day, I was grooving along I-44, blessed driving experience. There is now a lane for every speed, none of them below the officially posted speed limit. Never mind that there are pot holes and cracks in the rightmost lane and confusing dotted lines down the middle of lanes, remnants of the days when the freeway was marked for three lanes instead of four. It is still almost all good, fairly smooth driving. So I had a bit of time to reflect on the indignities of side-street navigation in St. Louis. I was reminiscing about my first driving lesson, back in 1954 would you believe, how I almost screwed up the parallel parking, but I did pass. And after 20 years or so of mostly fender-benders and a couple of totaled vehicles, I proudly recalled, I stopped having accidents. I just became a damn good driving machine. (I'll probably have to eat these words, but I've not had an accident to speak of for 20 years.) One thought led to another, and I was thinking about how we learned in that driving class to stop at every intersection, look both ways, and then move through when the way was clear.

And then it hit me! Why the situation is so confusing in St. Louis with the side-street stops. What we were taught, back in those pre-Korean War years, was that the person on the right is presumed to have the right to move forward ONCE THEY STOP. Well, of course. The problem with the St. Louis stop is that, since nobody actually stops, nobody knows who is on the right of whom. Courtesy is not possible in such a situation. (Of course, courtesy no longer exists for many other reasons, too.) But my point remains similar to the idea of taking your turn in line. If you can't get people to stand in line, then the idea of taking one's turn doesn't have any reference point. And if you can't get people to stop at stop signs, how can you tell who is first to the intersection, and THEN, who is on your right.

I thought about possible solutions. I suppose some time they will come up with a device that simply announces, "The tan 98 Nissan will go next," and if anyone tries to beat that, their cars will stall. But that is years away, and I'm not sure that's the best solution. I thought for precisely one second about trying to get St. Louis to reduce the number of side-street stop signs, but recognized my foolish fantasy immediately. I thought about moving near the MetroLink and just not driving anymore. But then I might have to cross one of those side street intersections as a pedestrian, terrifying nightmare, that.

So here is what I have decided. I am going to try this for one week. I am going to stop at all stop signs. I know it is just too foolish to hope that I might convince others to do likewise. But I am just going to see if this simple act of courtesy makes life easier for ME. At least if I am stopped, I will have time to observe that some other car is BEHIND a car making a St. Louis stop, and I can probably proudly move through the intersection before this trailing vehicle can roar through. This would be a no-guilt situation for me. (Well, I might have to contend with the driver behind me laying on the horn, or actually trying to pass me on the right. I'd have to be nimble about it, and only make this a tiny little complete stop.)

I suspect that in doing this, I might regain a small sense of courtesy from that time fifty years ago when good driving included the idea of looking out for the welfare of everyone on the road or in the intersection. At least I'd know where TO MY RIGHT is—over there on the right. I could then decide whether it was safe, and yes, even courteous, to go before or after the driver on the right. And further, I'd at least know that, as the guy on somebody else's right, I had STOPPED before moving through.

Oh, and one other thing. I think this decision is going to require that I decide that I don't have to be some place in a hurry, or to be sure that I start out for where I am going in plenty of time to get there. Probably these are other aspects of driving courtesy and safety, even in the 21st Century. I'll let you know how this all comes out. 

Posted: Wed - March 26, 2008 at 03:43 PM   Of Course It's Boring, Idiot   Riding the Bicycle   Previous   Next   Feedback   |


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