I’m from the UK where in general there’s only a stop sign if it’s needed, such as a junction where you can see absolutely nothing on one side. Otherwise usually there’s a give way line instead, to let people slow the car right down to look, but not need to stop if it’s unnecessary.
Whenever I see a video of an American street, it seems like there’s a stop sign everywhere I’d expect there to be a give way line. Surely this is inefficient as stopping and starting increases emissions, and stops the flow of traffic.
Is it really just the American government doesn’t expect drivers to look properly? Is it so the police can give people tickets for not quite stopping but still doing the junction completely safely?
We have the same rule in the states but there are tons of drivers here that are idiots. If two cars pull up to the same intersection at the same time, the person in the biggest hurry will usually jump the gun and go first no matter what the law is. Thus, it is usually easier to just force one direction to stop while allowing the perpendicular street to continue without stopping. It also helps with assigning blame in the case of a collision.