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Treat it as a 4 way stop

News readers are some of the lowliest of us.  They basically read a screen called prompter verbatim.  Sometimes they are not awake and they read whatever they want.  Sometimes they have never heard that word before and they make up shit.

An example of this dumb read it as you see it is when they announce to the world that somewhere in Boonseville a traffic light is malfunctioning and the police (mind you it has to come from the authorities) have asked people to treat it as a four way stop.

Four way stop refers to a street crossing another street where all vehicles approaching the intersection  from the four directions are required to make a full stop at the stop sign.  But to use that phrase willy nilly without considering if the situation warrants it is where I get annoyed.  What if it is a T junction?  Then there are no four way stops.  How do you handle this situation now?

What if there are more than two streets crossing at that light?  Be specific is all I ask.

Just say - Treat it as a stop sign.  Simple and effective.  Why add garbage words to the mix?   Frankly my personal vote is stop talking about stop signs.  Unless you were stealing an automobile and had no prior experience about the vagaries of modern life you are expected to figure crap out.  Slow news day causes all this mumbo jumbo to be sponsored by a discount mattress maker and burdened on the unsuspecting public as they are making plans to head out the door.  Followed by their thorax, and abdomen supported on their legs.

Why do you need to be told - apparently by the police who came and told the news editor who then went and told the news reader to tell me that I should treat the junction in Boonseville like a 4 way stop?

Stop it!

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