Still Life With Robin: Beyond the Idaho Stop

Photo by Infrogmation

by Peggy Robin

Last week there was a post on the Cleveland Park Listserv that introduced me to a new term: the “Idaho stop”, which was defined this way by a a bicyclist and advocate of the practice: “the "Idaho stop" [means] essentially slowing down and rolling through stop signs to preserve momentum and bike more efficiently.”

That got me to thinking about stopping in other ways, in other places. I know, for example, about the “Hollywood stop.” That’s when the driver of a car slowly rolls through the stop sign. It has nothing to do with improving energy efficiency; it’s just a bad driving practice. What I didn’t know (until I looked it up on Urban Dictionary) is that the term is used most frequently by police officers.

After mulling that over, it occurred to me that there are a number of states and cities equally deserving of their own stops. So I thought I’d get the ball rolling with a few of my own suggestions:

The Florida stop: You have your blinker on, even though you intend to go straight at the intersection.

The Alaska stop: You hit a patch of ice and just slide on through.

The NYC stop: You just honk your way through.

The Texas stop: The driver with the biggest gun goes first at the 4-way.

The Arizona stop: You stop. They check your papers. Then maybe you get to go.

The Vermont Stop: You let the other car go first. If the other driver wants you to go first, you both get out and walk.

The Delaware stop: Brought to you by DuPont, the Miracles of Science ™

The Las Vegas stop: If you feel like taking a gamble, just roll on through.

The Wyoming stop: You mean there’s a stop sign in this state?

And finally:

The Capitol Hill stop: You stop. A Capitol police officer asks why you need to go through. If you can't come up with a good reason, you turn around and go back.

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How (or where?) do you do that special stop? Feel free to add to this list in the comments section below.