At a 4-way stop-sign intersection, when do you wait, when do you go?

It is the first to arrive goes first. If two cars arrive at the same time the one on the right has the right-of-way.

The car that gets to the stop sign first has the right of way, and goes first. If two cars get to the intersection at the same time, the one on the right goes first.

This is standard.

First in goes first.
Car on the right if you arrive together.

But a car coming in from the opposite direction should go, too.

I don’t know why people think only one car can go at a time. It slows everyone down.

What @Jaxk said.
But people rarely follow this. It’s a faulty system, too. What if two cars arrive from opposite ends, and one is turning?

@dxs – If two cars arrive from opposite directions the car going straight has the right of way.

What the others have said, what gets me is they easily figured it out, so why does 97% of the rest of the driving population have such a fucking problem with it??

I agree with the common sense responses here, but still, traffic circles are a better system than 4-way stops, once folks get used to them.

First-in, first-out. Two or more arrive at one time, the driver to your right goes before you do.

Relevant

An ambulance, a fire truck, and a police car, all three with sirens and light son, arrive at an intersection at the same time as a mail tuck. Who goes first?

The mail truck. The mail must go through.

In light traffic, “first in, first out” and “priority to the right” is the way to go. But if there’s a backup in both directions (as often happens here at rush hour) that becomes unworkable. Then it’s much more efficient to alternate directions. That’s the pattern that naturally gets going under those circumstances anyway. It moves better and is less confusing. It may may not be the official rule, but that’s what brains are for.

@thorninmud That all falls apart when someone want stop turn left. Car to the right has right-of-way always works.

The biggest problem is when someone is reluctant to take right of way when they have it. Then everyone is waiting and confused.

I was always told the car on the right has the right of way if everyone arrives at the same time. Why the car on the right?

@Jaxk Follow up question: How much of the U.S. population actually know these rules?

I thought everyone knew. There are those that tend to wait when they have the right of way but generally it works fairly well. Too timid and things get screwed up. Too aggressive, likewise. I go through a 4-way stop with reasonable traffic every time I leave my house and don’t have problems.

Why the car on the right?

It’s just a convention. It could have been the left.

Is it the left in the UK?

I almost always err on the side of caution and wait longer than I might need to. There’s no place I need to be that an extra 30 seconds will make me late for.

And by the way, “Right of Way” doesn’t mean much anymore, if it ever did.

I think @thorninmud touched on the ‘even-odd’ method that I’d never heard of.

I concur with the first in, right right-of-way, btw. Only way I’ve ever done it.