Stop Signs
Dale G. Larrimore, Esquire
Larrimore & Farnish, LLP
Unless otherwise directed by a police officer or other appropriately attired person authorized to direct traffic, every driver of a vehicle approaching a stop sign shall stop at the stop line, or before entering the crosswalk, or at the point nearest the intersecting roadway where the driver has a clear view of approaching traffic on the intersecting roadway before entering the intersecting roadway. One appellate court decision in Pennsylvania has held that in order to convict a motorist of failing to stop at a stop sign, the Commonwealth has the burden of showing that no police officer directed the motorist through the stop sign. But a motorist can be convicted of the summary offense of failing to obey a stop sign where the only evidence is the credible testimony of a private citizen.
A driver must be able to see a stop sign before there is any duty to stop. In a situation where a stop sign is at an angle and difficult to see as a result of motorists having struck the sign on several occasions, a motorist would not be guilty of failing to stop at that stop sign.
After having stopped, a motorist is then obligated to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in the crosswalk or vehicles in the intersection, or to any vehicle approaching on another roadway so closely as to constitute a hazard during the time when the driver is moving across or within the intersection. The source of frequent litigation involves the determination of when another vehicle is approaching “so closely as to constitute a hazard.
The statute imposes a duty to check the intersecting roadway before proceeding and to cross only if the driver, in the exercise of reasonable care, believes that the crossing may be made without danger of collision. The stopped motorist may proceed to cross the intersection in the face of oncoming traffic if the driver reasonably believes that such a maneuver can be completed safely and without collision with the oncoming vehicles. A driver approaching an intersection with a through highway at which a stop sign is located is required to not only come to a complete stop before proceeding into the intersection, but to also yield the right-of-way to vehicles approaching on the through highway.
Every person on the highway, while required to employ his senses at all times in detecting and avoiding danger, is under no compulsion to assume that his fellow-travelers are bereft of their senses or that they will assault him with a weapon or an automobile fender. He has the right to assume that, since stop signs are beacons of safety, other drivers will no more turn a blind eye to them than a ships' master at the helm would ignore a lighthouse on a stormy night and a calamitous sea. A motorist on a through highway also has other responsibilities – including keeping a lookout for pedestrians that might cross his path and watching for traffic that could come from the other side.
Under Section 6122 of the Vehicle Code, municipalities have been given the authority to erect traffic control devices, such as stop signs, on roadways within their control. However, the authority vested by the Vehicle Code is merely discretionary, and there is no obligation on the part of the municipality to exercise this discretion.
The Vehicle Code does not apply to stop signs erected on private property or on a private road leading onto a highway. Without proof that a sign was erected pursuant to authority conferred by the Vehicle Code, the disobedience of a sign on private property is not considered to be negligence per se and there is no presumption that a stop sign on private property was legally erected. The signs and signals section of the Vehicle Code refers exclusively to the operation of vehicles on highways. The Code does not control the operation of vehicles on private property. There is always, however, an overriding duty to act with due care towards others and it may still be negligence for a motorist to ignore even a non-authorized traffic control sign.
