Four-Way Stop Behind a 1.6 m Snowbank
It is 8:05 a.m. on a February school day in a Yellowknife residential neighbourhood. You are southbound on a minor street approaching a four-way stop. On your right, a snowbank about 1.6 m high, pushed up by the plow, hides the cross street for the first 10 m. A pickup has already stopped on your left, a small hatchback is close behind you, and a pedestrian in a parka with the hood up is walking along the left edge of the road about 15 m from the crosswalk because the sidewalk on that side has not been cleared. The stop line on your approach is buried under packed snow, and the stop sign itself is partly frosted. The intersection is not signalized, but you can see a flashing amber light over the crosswalk at the next corner, 80 m ahead.
1. Describe how you would work through this intersection: where you stop, who goes first, and what the snowbank changes.
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A four-way stop still runs on arrival order, but the snowbank means you verify rather than assume.
- Stop where you can see and be seen. Stop at the sign, and if the line is buried, at the point where your view of the cross street opens up. The obligation comes from the sign, not the paint; a snow-covered line does not make a rolling stop legal.
- Establish arrival order. You cannot see the right-hand approach for the first 10 m. Creep forward slowly, a metre at a time, until you have a clear look. Until you have checked, treat the right as occupied.
- Yield to the vehicle on your left if it was there first, and proceed only when you have both checked the right and cleared the intersection.
- Simultaneous arrivals: the vehicle on the right has the right of way.
The hatchback close behind creates pressure but not obligation. A driver who rear-ends you is at fault, yet you should still signal early and avoid a sudden stop. Do not wave anyone through; improvised hand signals at a four-way stop create exactly the confusion that produces collisions.
2. What do you owe the pedestrian walking in the roadway, and how does the parka hood change your approach?
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She has the least protection in the interaction, so she gets the most space and the fewest assumptions.
- She is walking where there is no cleared sidewalk. Pedestrians should normally use the shoulder facing traffic, but the practical answer is the same: a driver yields to a pedestrian in a crosswalk or in the roadway whenever a collision can be avoided.
- The hood is up. She cannot see you in her peripheral vision and cannot hear you over the wind. Do not assume she knows you are there, and do not rely on her to stop or step back.
- Reduce speed well before her to 30 km/h or less, and give at least 1.5 m of clearance if you pass her before the crosswalk. If oncoming traffic or the snowbank makes that impossible, wait.
- Watch her footing. She may step out to get around a snow ridge at the curb, and packed snow is slippery for both of you. Cover the brake and be ready to stop.
- Make eye contact if you can. If you cannot, assume she will step into your path.
At 8:05 on a school day, also scan for children who may be walking the same unplowed edge and who are shorter than the snowbank you are trying to see past.
3. The stop line is buried and the sign is frosted over. Does that change your legal obligation? What about the flashing amber ahead?
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Neither changes the legal obligation, but both change how you execute it.
The painted stop line is a placement guide; the sign is the requirement. When snow buries the line, stop at the sign or at the edge of the crosswalk - whichever comes first - at a point where you can see cross traffic and be seen. Stopping three metres short because the line is invisible is fine. Rolling through because you could not see the line is a failure to stop, and it is also how snowbank-related intersection collisions happen.
A frosted sign is still a sign. You are expected to recognize the octagon shape and slow before you can read the letters; if you truly cannot identify it, the safe default is to treat it as a stop.
The flashing amber 80 m ahead is not a stop signal. It means proceed with caution: slow, scan, and yield to any pedestrian in that crosswalk. At these temperatures, pedestrians often step around snow ridges instead of using the marked crossing, so approach that corner expecting someone in the road. Many crosswalk ambers are push-button activated, so a person waiting at the button is itself a signal to stop.