Stop sign
A stop sign is a traffic sign designed to notify drivers that they must come to a complete stop and make sure the intersection is safely clear of vehicles and pedestrians before continuing past the sign.[1] In many countries, the sign is a red octagon with the word STOP, in either English or the national language of that particular country, displayed in white or yellow. The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals also allows an alternative version: a red circle with a red inverted triangle with either a white or yellow background, and a black or dark blue STOP. Some countries may also use other types, such as Japan's inverted red triangle stop sign. Particular regulations regarding appearance, installation, and compliance with the signs vary by some jurisdictions.
Design and configuration
The 1968
The United Kingdom and New Zealand stop signs are 750, 900 or 1200 mm (about 30, 36 or 48 inches), according to sign location and traffic speeds.[2][3]
In the United States, stop signs are 30 inches (76 cm) across opposite flats of the red
Some modern stop signs have flashing LEDs around the perimeter, which has been shown to substantially reduce crashes.[8]
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B2a
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Acceptable variant of B2a in the European Annex
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B2b
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Acceptable variant of B2b
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Acceptable variant of B2b
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Acceptable variant of B2b
History
The first ever stop sign was created in 1914[9] by Detroit police sergeant Harold "Harry" Jackson, who was working as a traffic guard at a busy city intersection. One of the cross streets had a particularly low-visibility turn entering the intersection, almost always forcing Sgt. Jackson to slow down and hold back the traffic entering from that street. Looking for ways to make his job easier, he took a rectangular piece of plywood, cut off the corners to give it a distinct shape, wrote "STOP" over the center and placed facing the street. He noticed that his innovation improved the overall traffic flow through the intersection. After he shared his experience with fellow officers at a meeting, the practice started to spread across the city intersections.[10] The next year, 1915, stop signs were adopted across
The octagon was also chosen so that it could be identified easily at night since the original signs were not reflective.[citation needed] The more urban-oriented National Conference on Street and Highway Safety (NCSHS) advocated a smaller red-on-yellow stop sign.[11] These two organizations eventually merged to form the Joint Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which in 1935 published the first Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) detailing the stop sign's specifications.
The MUTCD's stop sign specifications were altered eight times between 1935 and 1971. From 1924 to 1954, stop signs bore a red or black stop legend on a yellow field.
US mandate, international adoption
The MUTCD stop sign was already widely deployed in the United States when the use of other types of stop signs was eliminated in 1966.[11] In 1968, this sign was adopted by the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals as part of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's effort to standardize road travel across borders. The Convention specifies that stop be written in English or the national language, and also allows a circular sign with red legend. Forty European countries[17] are party to the convention.
Stop signs around the world
The red octagonal field with white English-language stop legend is the most common stop sign used around the world, but it is not universal; Japan uses an inverted solid red triangle, for example, and Zimbabwe until 2016 used a disc bearing a black cross. Moreover, there are many variants of the red-and-white octagonal sign. Although all English-speaking and many other countries use the word stop on stop signs, some jurisdictions use an equivalent word in their primary language instead, or in addition. Also, several languages borrowed the English word "stop" a long time ago, such as French, and therefore do not consider it to be a foreign word any more. The use of native languages is common on U.S. native reservations, especially those promoting language revitalization efforts,[citation needed] for example, and Israel uses no word, but rather a pictogram of a hand in a palm-forward "stop" gesture.
Asia
Countries in Asia generally use a native word, often in a non-Latin script. The sign's shape varies by location, with places such as South Korea, Hong Kong, or Taiwan using the standard octagon shape, with Japan using a triangle.[19]
Europe
Countries in Europe generally have stop signs with the text stop, regardless of local language. There were some objections to this when introduced around the 1970s, but now this is accepted.
Latin America
In Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Caribbean and South American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela), signs bear the legend pare ("stop" in Portuguese and Spanish). Mexico and Central American countries bear the legend alto ("halt") instead.
Canada
In the
Other countries
- Arabic-speaking countries use قف qif (except for Lebanon, which only uses stop since 2018).
- India, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Indonesia, The Philippines, Pakistan, The European Economic Area, Fiji, Singapore, and the United States use the English sign in the Highway Gothic font.
- Armenia uses ԿԱՆԳ kang and stop.
- Bangladesh and Nepal use a stop sign with no text.
- Brazil and Spanish-speaking Caribbean and South American nations use pare
- Canada uses both the standard version of the sign and multilingual stop signs.
- Cambodia uses ឈប់ chhob.
- China and Taiwan use 停 tíng, except that Mainland China's sign has a bolder word.
- Cuba uses a version of the B2b stop sign that says pare
- Ethiopia uses a version of the sign that says ቁም ḳumə and stop
- Hong Kong SAR uses a version of the sign that says 停 tíng, and stop
- Iran and Afghanistan use ایست ist
- Iraq, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Yemen use a multilingual stop sign that says both قف qif and stop except Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, which use a different version of the sign.
- Israel and Palestine use a version of the stop sign with a raised hand.
- Japan uses a triangular sign that says 止まれ tomare and stop
- Laos uses ຢຸດ yud
- Malaysia and Brunei use berhenti
- Mexico and other Central American nations use alto
- Mongolia uses ЗОГС zogs
- Myanmar uses ရပ် raut
- Nigeria uses a variant of the B1a stop sign with a yellow typeface.
- North Korea uses 섯 sŏt
- Portuguese-speaking countries with the exception of Brazil use the English sign
- South Africa, like most nations, uses the B2a stop sign.
- South Korea uses 정지 jeongji and stop
- Spain uses stop
- Russian-speaking countries use either stop or стоп (i.e. stop transliterated into Russian), with the latter marking the place where vehicles should wait at traffic lights
- Thailand uses หยุด yùd
- Tonga uses a version of the B2b stop sign with the text overlapping the triangle inside the circle.
- Turkey uses dur
- Vanuatu uses a circular red stop sign.
- Vietnam uses a version of the stop sign with smaller text: stop.
Gallery
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Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia
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Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela
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Armenia
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Australia, Belize, Canada, Fiji, Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Spain (since 2023),[25] United States
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Bangladesh, Nepal
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Bhutan
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Brunei
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Cambodia
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Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama
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Cuba
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Mainland China
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France, Haiti, Francophone Africa
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Hong Kong SAR
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Ethiopia
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Hungary
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Iran, Afghanistan
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Iraq, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Yemen
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India (multilingual)
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Israel, Palestine
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Italy, Malta, Sierra Leone
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Jamaica
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Japan
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Laos
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Malaysia
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Macau SAR
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Mauritius
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Mexico
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Mongolia
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Netherlands, Suriname
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Nigeria
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North Korea
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Province of Québec, Canada (in Cree)
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Province of Québec, Canada (in French)
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Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Lithuania
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SADC countries (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
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South Korea
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Sri Lanka
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Sweden
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Taiwan
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Thailand
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United Kingdom, Anglophone Africa, Anglophone Caribbean
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Vietnam
Historical gallery
The following are some older stop sign designs, used before the Vienna Road Traffic Convention standardized the design:
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Germany (before 1937)
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Finland (1957-1971)
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Greece (before 1982)
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Italy (1959-1990)
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Romania (1957-1961)
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United Kingdom (1965-1975)
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Sweden (1951-1976)
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United States (1924-1954)
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Ethiopia
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Libya
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Zambia
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Zimbabwe
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North Korea
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Japan (1950-1960)
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Japan (1960-1963)
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Thailand
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Australia (1940-1956)
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Pakistan
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South Vietnam (1955-1975)
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South Africa
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Spain (1962-1976)
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Turkey
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Taiwan (1954-1968)
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Mexico
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Hungary
Application
The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the Northern Hemisphere and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (August 2013) |
The use of stop signs varies from country. North America and South Africa use
North America
Stop signs are often used in North America to control conflicting traffic movements at intersections that are deemed not busy enough to justify the installation of a
On school buses
A stop sign on a pivoting arm is required equipment on North American
Europe
In Europe, stop signs are generally placed at sites where visibility is severely restricted, or where a high crash rate has been noted. In some European countries, stop signs are placed at level crossings to mark the stop line. For most situations, Europe uses the give way sign instead.[30][31] All-way stops, which are common in North America, are exceedingly rare in Europe. Comparatively, roundabouts and priority to the right intersections are more common.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, stop signs may only be placed at junctions with tramways or sites with severely restricted visibility.[32] Until 2016, each stop sign had to be individually approved by the Secretary of State for Transport.[33][34] This requirement was removed by the 2016 amendments to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions;[35][36] the responsibility for approving stop signs now lies with local authorities.
Section 79 of the Highways Act 1980 enables the government to improve visibility at junctions, as by removing or shortening walls or hedges. The Department for Transport considers improving visibility to be preferable to installing a stop sign.[32] The former UK practice of using "Halt" or "Slow" at Major Road Ahead signs was discontinued in 1965 at the recommendation of the Worboys Committee.[37] Instead of replacing all the old halt signs with the new Vienna Convention stop sign, the give way sign became the standard one at UK priority junctions.[38]
Compliance requirements
Laws and regulations regarding how drivers must comply with a stop sign vary by jurisdiction. In the United States and Canada, these rules are set and enforced at the state or provincial level. At a junction where two or more traffic directions are controlled by stop signs, US and Canada practice generally has the driver who arrives and stops first continue first. If two or three drivers in different directions stop simultaneously at a junction controlled by stop signs, generally the drivers on the left must yield the right-of-way to the driver on the far right.
In all countries, the driver must come to a complete stop before passing a stop sign, even if no other vehicle or pedestrian is visible. If a
In some countries such as Czechia and Russia, stopping is required only at a place where a driver has a sufficient view into the intersection, not at the border of the intersection (where a "STOP" line is not present). Therefore, if multiple drivers come from the same direction and all of them stop at appropriate place, they can continue without stopping again.[42]
Bicyclists
In some jurisdictions, such as the U.S. state of Idaho, the traffic code allows for bicyclists approaching a stop sign to slow down and yield to conflicting traffic, then proceed without stopping unless safety requires a full stop.[43] The Idaho law has been in effect since 1982 and has not been shown to be detrimental to safety.[44] Since 2017, more states have implemented changes to the law similar to Idaho's: Delaware (2017),[45] Oregon (2020), Washington (2020), Utah (2021) and North Dakota (2021). Cyclist advocacy groups have sought similar laws for other jurisdictions in the United States.[46][47][48]
Disadvantages
Stop sign placement can pose difficulties and hazards in applications where cross traffic is not controlled by a sign or light. Relatively long distance between the stop sign and the crossroad facilitates accurate perception of the speed of approaching cross traffic, but lengthens the time and distance required to enter and clear the junction. Relatively short distance between the stop sign and the crossroad shortens the time required for safe passage through the intersection, but degrades the ability of the stopped driver to accurately perceive the speed of approaching cross traffic. Specifically, drivers approaching an intersection from beyond the subtended angular velocity detection threshold (SAVT) limit may be perceived by a stopped driver as standing still rather than approaching,[49] which means the stopped driver may not make an accurate decision as to whether it is safe to proceed past the stop sign.[50] Whether the distance between the stop sign and the crossroad is officially short or is shortened by drivers creeping past the stop line, they can lose the visual acuity of lateral motion,[51] leaving them to rely on the SAVT.[50] This can make it difficult to accurately estimate the movement of approaching cross traffic.[50][49] According to recent game-theoretical analysis, at intersections where all directions face stop signs, drivers have strong incentives to run the stop sign; A better solution is to randomly remove one stop sign from all directions, which could lead to significant efficiency gains while ensure safe traffic.[52]
See also
- All-way stop
- Assured Clear Distance Ahead
- Road traffic safety
- Roundabout
- Rules of the road
- Stopping sight distance
- Traffic psychology
- Yield sign
References
- ISBN 978-92-1-116973-7
- ^ "UK Department of Transport. Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 3: Regulatory Signs" (PDF). 9 September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2010. (2.0 MB)
- ^ New Zealand Transport Agency. Traffic Control Devices Manual: General requirements for traffic signs Archived 17 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, (963 KB)
- ^ "Standard Highway Signs manual, 2004 Metric edition" (PDF).
- ^ a b "Standard Highway Signs manual, 2004 English edition" (PDF). (8.49 MB)
- ^ a b c "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices 2003, Section 2B". Mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
- ^ "Standard Highway Signs manual, 2004 Metric edition" (PDF). (8.36 MB)
- ^ Increase Visibility of Stop Signs: LEDs Around Stop Sign Face
- ^ "The Town Crier: Stop! (part 1)". The Daily Citizen. 28 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ Vanderbilt, Tom (25 May 2010). "The quest to design a better stop sign". Slate.
- ^ a b c d e f Signalfan. History of the Stop Sign in America. 1997.
- ^ Greenbaum, Hilary; Rubinstein, Dana (9 December 2011). "The Stop Sign Wasn't Always Red". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ "Seventeenth and Eighteenth Reports of the State Highway Commission to the Governor of Virginia for the Twenty-one months ending June 30, 1925" (Virginia State Highway Commission, 1925) p.37
- ^ Felton, Ryan (14 October 2017). "Here's Why Stop Signs Are Red". Jalopnik. Gawker Media. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Manaul on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (PDF). Department of Commerce. 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. 1948 Edition. Part 1A, Section 31. "[A stop sign] shall be mounted so that its bottom will be 21⁄2 feet above the crown of the roadway."
- ^ "Convention on Road Signs and Signals". United Nations Treaty Collection. United Nations.
- ^ Watanabe, June (20 September 2006). "Malls can erect non-red stop signs". Star-Bulletin. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- S2CID 115443805.
- ^ "Répertoire des dispositifs de signalisation routière du Québec, Transports Québec". Mtqsignalisation.mtq.gouv.qc.ca. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
- ^ "Quebec Calling a Halt To English Stop Sign". The New York Times. 14 May 1982. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ panneau ARRÊT, Office québécois de la langue française, granddictionnaire.com.
- ^ Photo by Flickr.com user "imagesdistributioncanada"
- ^ "Quebec activists want English stop signs to 'arret'". CTVNews. 16 March 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "Catálogo de señales verticales de circulación" (PDF) (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior of Spain. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ "Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 3: Regulatory Signs, Section 3.4" (PDF). UK Department of Transport. 8 September 2008. (2.0 MB)
- ^ Some factors influencing the road behaviour of vehicle drivers. R.J. Smeed, UK Road Research Laboratory. Operational Research Quarterly, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Birmingham, England, 1952.
- ^ "Driver behaviour and accident records at unsignalized urban intersections". Abishai Polusa, Department of Civil Engineering & Transportation Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel. June 1984. Available online 4 July 2002.
- ^ Bretherton, M. "Multi-Way Stops—The MUTCD Is Correct!" 1999 ITE Compendium of Technical Papers. Institute of Transportation Engineers, August 1999.
- ^ "Here's Why There Isn't a Single Stop Sign in Paris". 1 October 2020.
- ^ "Dutch Traffic: Why the stop sign is so rare in the Netherlands". Dutch Language Blog | Language and Culture of the Dutch-Speaking World. 28 June 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-11-553223-8. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- Department of Transport. Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 3: Regulatory Signs, Section 3.2, 9 September 2008
- ^ "The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ "Annex A". DfT Circular: The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (PDF). 2016. p. 76. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ "The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ Great Britain. Report of the Traffic Signs Committee [Chairman, Sir Walter Worboys], 18 April 1963.
- ^ "New traffic signs demonstrated on road at Birmingham." The Surveyor and Municipal Engineer, vol 122, p880, 1963.
- ^ Rosenberg, Mike (30 September 2010). "Cheaper fines for right turn on red? No way, governor says". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
- ^ "Dictionary.com definition". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
- ^ "Tesla recalls autos over software that allows them to roll through stop signs". NPR. Archived from the original on 10 May 2023.
- ^ "Musím na stopce zastavit za dalším vozidlem? :: Autoškola Příkaský". www.autoskolaprikasky.cz. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
- ^ "Bicycle-related Idaho Code" (PDF). Idaho Vehicle Code Title 49, Chapter 7. Idaho Transportation Department. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- ^ "Bike Law University: Idaho Stop". The League of American Bicyclists. 22 August 2013.
- ^ "Delaware Code Online". delcode.delaware.gov. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ Maus, Jonathan (15 January 2009). "Exclusive: BTA will go for "Idaho style" stop sign law". BikePortland.org. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- ^ "Idaho-style STOP law". San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- ^ Cano, Ricardo (18 September 2021). "California cyclists could treat stop signs as yields if 'Idaho Stop' bill becomes law". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ S2CID 4290244.
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Displacement thresholds for peripheral motion were affected by acuity limits for speeds below 0.5 degrees/s.
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