As far as the rest of us plain ol' drivers go, yeah - it's up to the civility of the drivers as to who goes first. The 'defer to the person on your right' is merely tradition. But, as far as I know, if you get hit because you decided to go before the car that was crossing the intersection had cleared and you hit them, you'd probably get a ticket for 'not giving right of way'


>One of the things the course points out is that there is no presumed right of way. That was news to me.
>
>>Everybody stops, then proceeds when it is safe to do so in the order of arrival at the 4 way stop. In case of a tie, defer to the person on your right.
>>
>>Unless, of course, a police car, fire truck, ambulance (all with sirens and lights going) and a mail truck hit at the same time. It may have changed, but back in the day, the mail truck had the right of way.
>>
>>
>>>In my defence - at least I wasn't texting at the time :-}
>>>I've done a lot of driving in the U.S. but never got the hang of 4-way stops.......
>>>
>>>>Nick, it's great to see you are still among us!