User behaviour at a four way stop

Abstract

Paper presented at the 30th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11-14 July 2011 "Africa on the Move", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

This study examines the behaviour of vehicles at a four way stop in close proximity to the University, along one of the principal roads through the town of Stellenbosch. Four way stops are simple concepts founded on relatively simple rules of engagement. However a series of observations conducted in 2010 evidenced significant levels of conflict between vehicles, and between vehicles and other road users. The study identified a high level of contravention of the yielding rules associated with a four way stop configuration, suggesting either that drivers are unaware of the yielding conventior! or are operating wilfully. The behaviour of pedestrians and cyclists was also examined but has been omitted from this paper because of space constraints.