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Witnesses report some farmers hauling grain in huge semis, blowing through grid road stop signs and even rolling through stop signs connecting major highways. Ditto for certain tanker trucks in the oilpatch, trucks hauling equipment or gravel; even last week a milk tanker was spotted coasting through a stop sign onto a busy highway.

At first blush, the thought is that some drivers have become complacent or that they just don’t see the signs. But it’s not that. It is more deliberate.

Drivers have tried patiently explaining to me, as if talking to a child or simpleton, that they know what they’re doing; they choose not to stop. And we just don’t get it because we do not understand the physics and human dynamics of driving big rigs.

In order for a semi to accelerate from a full stop to driving speed, it takes much more energy, time and wear on the vehicle. If the semi can coast through a stop sign at five to eight kilometres an hour, while the driver swivels his head to determine that crossing traffic is far enough away, it is easy — even safer, the earnest drivers tell me — to be able to get on the road and back to highway speed.

Oh, and you should try driving a semi on ice, they protest. Coming to a full stop at some intersections would actually result in not being able to get moving again.

Like some weird Alice in Wonderland “up is down and down is up” experience, hearing a guy explain this makes me want to yell “The sign says ‘stop,’ you idiot — not stop if you want to.” Besides, there are already signs that permit the checking of traffic, pausing and then coasting through. They’re called yield signs.