die Verkehrsschilder

I don't understand some of the traffic signs in Germany, and apparently neither do the Germans. Or perhaps 4-way intersections are uncommon in Berlin. Stop signs are very scarce in Germany. I remember noticing that the first time I was here in Leinfelder-Echterdingen when I was 16. There are yeild signs everywhere down there, but in Berlin I don't see too many of those either(granted I'm not in a car as much). There are lots of stop lights.

But anyway, I was almost to work the other day, when I came upon a 4-way intersection. I pass this intersection every day, but normally there's no one there, and I just bike through it. However this time there were three cars. I was the last one to arrive at the intersection (plus I was on a bike), and I completed the square, so to speak, so now there was a car (or bike) in every spot. The car directly across from me kept waving for them to go, but one of them wanted to turn left, and the other go straight, so it was pretty impossible for them to go at the same time. But that's what kept happening. They would both start to go, then they would both stop, and then the car across the way would angrily wave some more, and even beeped the horn at one point (like that is going to solve anything). I was going to volunteer to cross the intersection first, but I had failed to do the down shift thing, so I was in the highest gear, which doesn't exactly allow for the smoothlest of transitions from stopped to moving. So I figured my wobbley zig-zagging through the intersection at a speed that a pedestrian could probably beat, would not be the best thing to satisfy Mr. Impatient.

Finally they worked it out, and we were all on our way. I thought maybe the signs that were on the corner did say something about how to deal with 4 people at the intersection, but I didn't know what they meant. It's just a bunch of blue circles with either a red slash or a red X in them. I looked them up when I got to work, and apparently, they have to do with parking. Interesting.