Traffic Q&A: At a two-way stop, courtesy doesn’t always trump

Q: When one comes to a stop sign at an arterial street with no traffic and wants to turn left, does a facing car that stops after you get to proceed straight ahead first (assuming there is no traffic on the arterial)?

Or does one treat that intersection like a four-way stop and the first car arriving at the intersection has the right-of-way?

Or must one wait until all the facing cars wishing to drive straight ahead have cleared the intersection and then turn left? Again, it is assumed there are no cars traveling on the arterial.

Jan L., Tumwater

Answer: Contrary to what is taken — and mocked in an insurance commercial a few years back — as typical behavior here in the Northwest, there’s no Alphonse and Gaston cartoon in the Washington Driver Guide to enshrine “No, you first” as official mandate for all situations.

Yet the routine goes on daily on these South Sound streets — even though, as the commercial put it, “no one ever said that it was efficient.”

Here’s something else that isn’t efficient: how the rule for proper behavior in that situation is taught. It isn’t in the driver’s manual. Official agencies gave us contradictory answers when we started looking. So did driving schools we surveyed.

The most relevant state law is concise, even if it’s about as clear as a muddy stream: “The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard.”

Forget courtesy for a moment of strict analysis. To a cautious driver, a lot of things on the opposite side of that intersection might “constitute an immediate hazard” as we check to see if the route is safe to turn left. A student-driver sign, for instance. A driver engrossed in an illegal cellphone conversation. A California license plate. Counting on any of these to notice, or fully heed, a stop sign might constitute roadway roulette.

So is the right thing to do to just stop and wait for all facing traffic to pass, even if the oncoming line of cars is deep and all headed straight across? Courtesy might say yes, at least until we defer to others so much that it renders us immobile. Miss Manners has said there’s no such thing as fashionably late. Most of us would also hate to be stuck behind the person who tries to wait out an endless string of cars.

With some difficulty, we have located a definitive guide to what should happen. First, a caveat: not everybody knows to do this. A Tacoma police representative and a driver’s school owner gave the opposite advice, and they’re experts on driving law. That fellow pulling up across the way likely isn’t as versed.

According to the state Department of Licensing, which prints up the Driving Guide and administers the tests, it’s your right to go ahead and turn left.

“Once the right of way has been yielded after stopping at an intersection, and one has identified one could safely turn left before next oncoming vehicle comes to a stop, driver could proceed with left turn,” Licensing Department spokesman Brad Benefield wrote in an email after consulting others in his agency.

The email drew on citations from three statutes to solve this query, perhaps proving that not every driver can be expected to have mastered the subject. So wait until it’s clear. The state motto translates to “Bye and bye,” right?

For the last word on the subject, we’ll turn to George Tart, a driving instructor with Puget Sound Safety in Puyallup. He not only offered the legally correct answer, but also added the soundest advice going.

“I always teach my students to err on the side of caution,” Tart said.

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 8:18 AM with the headline "Traffic Q&A: At a two-way stop, courtesy doesn’t always trump."