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Abandon the rolling stop

To the editor:

Michigan’s innovation and creativity are a legitimate source of her pride.  Her brilliant legacy in music, for example, has attained a level not to be found in most areas of the world.

Yet, there are Michigan inventions that serve and have served no positive purpose whatsoever.  The much-loved Michigan rolling stop, despite its place in the history of the state, is nothing more than winking at or flouting rules, but what it has created has been no more than danger.  This invention is, moreover, but part of a pattern prominently to be seen in the Great Lakes state in which drivers blank on or supposedly cleverly skirt certain specific areas of traffic law.

The Michigan driver, to a degree greater than almost anywhere, has a firm conviction as to the clairvoyant or mind-reading abilities of pedestrians or other drivers.  He will signal a tenth of a second before turning or in the act of turning, if he signals at all. If there is some failure in the psychic abilities of others regarding his intention, he believes he has every right to feel annoyed.

The only things the too-cursory or even absent nature of these warnings is doing is irritating, confusing and even endangering others. It makes a risk of accident and injury.  It is better than this common practice of the Michiganders be abandoned.

Daniel Boyer

New York

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