The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles gives little help to drivers trying to fathom the mysteries of four-way stop signs. Although it is clear on stopping, going is left pretty much up to each individual. Under “Stop and Yield Signs” it tells us, “The STOP sign always means “come to a complete halt” and applies to each vehicle that comes to the sign. You must stop before any crosswalk or stop line painted on the pavement. Come to a complete stop, yield to pedestrians or other vehicles, and proceed carefully. Simply slowing down is not enough. If a 4-WAY or ALL WAY sign is added at an intersection, all traffic approaching the intersection must stop. The first vehicle in the intersection or four-way stop has the right of way.”

What about when two or more cars arrive at the same time? We know that in baseball the tie goes to the runner. In Massachusetts, the driving manual is silent on who the tie goes to at a stop sign. However, drivers from parts of the country further west learned the rules at their mothers’ knees, along with “Don’t run with scissors,” “Don’t play with matches,” and “Don’t come crying to me if you cut your foot running around barefoot.”

Here they are, as confirmed by Wikipedia and the National Highway Administration: Generally, the driver who stops first continues first. If two drivers stop simultaneously at stop signs at a single intersection, the general rule is that the car on the right has the right of way. Common sense applies.