All-Way Stop, a Left-Turner, and a Hand Wave
It is 5:50 p.m. and you are eastbound on a two-lane residential street posted 25 mph, approaching an intersection controlled only by stop signs on all four approaches. You come to a complete stop at the limit line. A westbound sedan on the opposite side is also stopped, and its left turn signal is blinking; it wants to turn south, directly across your path. A pickup has pulled up close behind you. On the corner to your right, a woman with a stroller is standing at the curb, facing the street but not yet in the crosswalk. A cyclist in the bike lane on the cross street is heading north toward the intersection, still about 60 feet away and pedaling steadily. You intend to continue straight through. The westbound driver lifts a hand and waves you forward.
1. As between you and the left-turning sedan, who has the right-of-way?
Read the worked answer
Two independent rules point the same way, which is why this one is not close.
- Arrival order at an all-way stop. You stopped first, so you go first. If you had arrived simultaneously, the tie-breaker is yield to the vehicle on the right - but you did not tie.
- Left turn across traffic. Even if the sedan had arrived first, a driver turning left must yield to oncoming traffic going straight or turning right. A left-turner cannot claim the intersection just by being there first; the turn has to be safe against the through movement.
So you proceed straight, and the sedan waits. Note that the sedan's turn signal does not change any of this - intentions do not create right-of-way, and drivers routinely signal a turn they then abandon. Watch the sedan's front wheels, not its blinker: a wheel starting to rotate left is the real signal that the driver is committing, and that is your cue to be ready rather than to argue about who was right.
2. The westbound driver waves you through. Does that settle it?
Read the worked answer
No. The wave is one driver telling you what that driver will do. It does not bind the cyclist, the woman with the stroller, or the pickup behind you, and it does not transfer right-of-way - if you go on a wave and hit someone, the wave is not a defense.
What to do instead:
- Treat the wave as a courtesy and a small piece of information, not an instruction.
- Confirm the sedan is actually stationary with its wheels straight, not creeping.
- Clear the cyclist: at 60 feet and closing, a steady cadence, they will reach the intersection at roughly the same moment you would cross their path if you move now. Wait for them or let them clear.
- Clear the woman and stroller on your right before rolling into or past the crosswalk.
- Move when your own scan says clear, and no sooner. If that means the waived-through moment passes, so be it.
3. How does the woman with the stroller at the curb change what you do?
Read the worked answer
She has not entered the crosswalk, so she does not yet have the right-of-way that a pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk has. What she has is a strong signal of what happens next, and she is the most fragile thing in the scene.
Adjustments:
- Do not pull forward to "hold your place." Nosing into the crosswalk to nudge a pedestrian is how people get hit at 5 mph and how drivers get cited.
- Cover the brake and keep your speed at a crawl until you are past her. At 25 mph you cover about 37 feet per second; at a crawl you can stop in a couple of feet.
- Read intent. If she steps off the curb, looks at you and starts to move, you stop and stay stopped until she is across your lane and out of the crossing - stroller width means she is in your path longer than a single pedestrian.
- Protect the cyclist too. Your straight-through path crosses the bike lane's extension; do not accelerate across it while the cyclist is arriving.
In a residential all-way stop with a stroller, a bike and a tailgater, the correct answer is almost always the slowest one.