By Noah Pond

You ever pull up to a stop sign in Arcata and it just feels like a four-way duel from an old western movie? You got like three other cars and no one really knows what’s going on.

It’s a mix of a couple of things; First off Humboldt County was ranked first in worst counties for drunk driving fatalities in a study done by an east coast law firm published by ABC 7 KRCR. Secondly, the studies show you mf’s suck at driving. 

There are three types of drivers in Arcata: 

The ones who use the stop signs properly, who are extremely chill — like, shout out to you for knowing the rules of the road and obeying them. You come to a complete stop and wait the extra 5 seconds before you get on with your day. I applaud you.

Then, you have the bruhs who do not stop. Like, literally will just roll through the jawn no matter how many people stopped before them — this may be due to the third type of person. I saw one of these people hit a biker at the Sunset Ave nine-way stop a couple months ago and bro just kept rolling, as they do. The biker was fine, but got up quickly and cussed out the driver. 

The third type are the ones who stop until every other person has gone through the intersection. I think these people might be the worst of the bunch. You’ll stop and they will already be stopped and so you wave them on and then they wave you on back. You kinda just slowly roll past them in confusion. How high do you have to be to just chill at a stop sign all day? From my analysis, these people are mostly locals and Subaru Outback drivers. 

Earlier this week, I was driving up G St. and stopped at the 11th St. stop sign, as one does. I came to a complete stop as a pedestrian stepped out into the crosswalk and I suddenly realized it was a blind woman with a service dog — sadly, I was the only one who seemed to realize this. Everyone else did one of those three things that drivers in Arcata do so well. She stopped like four or five steps into the crosswalk and pointed across the street in the direction she was trying to cross. 

These types of people make driving through town an absolute challenge, and it really shouldn’t be. There is a stop sign damn near every other block in Arcata, but I guess all you city slickers are just used to stop lights. 

If you have ever driven in Arcata, you know you’re gonna have to use a damn stop sign — they’re everywhere. The question is, how will you choose to use it? Which kind of Arcata stop sign user are you? I hope you think of this article the next time you pull up to a stop sign and act accordingly.