When nobody is behind me I try to drive so slowly that I roll through stops signs a zillion times more slowly than the average driver.

 

I was involved in a collision today that totalled my 2007 HCHII (other vehicle ran a red light...). Now I am driving a rental. Did I jinx myself when I wrote that post a few days ago??

 

Yikes!!! At least it wasn't YOU blowing through the stoplight--that would have REALLY been bad. I wish you back in your HCH (or a new one) very quickly!

 

Well, now you'll probably be very careful going through stop signs! (Hopefully in your new 08 HCHII)

 

Luckily the crash wasn't my fault and was caused by a red-light runner.

 

I live in California, so a "California stop" is sorta normal here

 

I drive my HCH with the family and show them how good FE I get by driving at posted speed limits, coming to a complete stop..(the family loves the auto stop) and I take off using two bars and back off about two seconds ...and I have been running 50 + MPG.

The Auto Stop makes it easier to achieve the high FE by pressing lightly on the break and costing on auto stop for a few seconds before I even reach a stop sign. On a slight down grade going to a super market, the car was in Auto Stop...but I was still rolling about 4-5 mph...I drove for almost a minute and parked with the Auto Stop ...best FE ever.

 

Definitely not worth the risk. Even if there's no other traffic, a cop could be lurking nearby, especially at night.

The risk will only escalate as the economy continues to worsen. More and more cities & counties will conscript their law-enforcers to serve as auxiliary tax collectors, if they haven't done so already.

 

I tend to not stop at lights that don't make sense, more out of impatience than to save fuel. For example, there are a couple of lights where I live that are always red in both directions (T stop). The problem is there really isn't a need for a light there. A simple stop sign on the non main road would suffice. At night i blow through the red all the time. And yes, you can see the other road clearly so you can see if a car is coming (they would have to stop anyway as the light is never green until you trigger the light). I haven't stopped for that light in 10 years. I'm so bad that i go around people who are stupid enough to stop at the light. ;-)

As for creeping through stop signs, I do that all the time and did it once right in front of our finest. I got yelled at over the loudspeaker to not to do that again. I was like, dude, what were you thinking. Oh well, no ticket, just got lucky.

 

Here in the S.F. Bay Area, there is so much heavy traffic, and, yes, many drivers do the "California stop". (In my previous car, I was once hit by someone going 25 miles per hour through a stop sign.) But you have to wonder how many fewer accidents there would be if everyone actually stopped at stop signs (AND red lights), and also refrained from talking on the phone and tailgaiting (yes, that goes for you drafters as well. Just imagine the savings of lives and money.