What is a rolling stop called where you live?

July 16, 2018 2:47 PM

A rolling stop is when someone approaches a stop sign and slows, but doesn't come to a complete stop before going through the intersection. Like this. In Southern Oregon, where I grew up and learned to drive in the 1980s, this was called a "California stop." I can't imagine that it's called that in California, or in states that don't share a border with California. Hence the question -- what is this kind of stop called in other parts of the US/world?
posted by OrangeDisk to Grab Bag (96 answers total)

I'm from Pasadena, California and we called it a "Hollywood stop."
posted by blnkfrnk at 2:49 PM on July 16, 2018 [10 favorites]

It's the South Philly roll.
posted by DoubleLune at 2:50 PM on July 16, 2018 [9 favorites]

It might have been just in the 1980s in Boston, but for us it was always "come to a complete slow."
posted by Melismata at 2:51 PM on July 16, 2018 [8 favorites]

I grew up in Ohio and we called that a California stop, too.
posted by coppermoss at 2:51 PM on July 16, 2018 [4 favorites]

Here in Michigan it's a rolling stop.
Soon to be followed by flashing lights in your rearview....
posted by BostonTerrier at 2:52 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

See, I'm ALSO from Pasadena, CA, and we called it a California stop.
posted by Countess Sandwich at 2:53 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

I grew up in rural North Carolina, and it was a California stop. These days, my wife and I call it a "bold life choice", but that's less widespread, of course. :)
posted by joycehealy at 2:53 PM on July 16, 2018 [10 favorites]

When you're on a bike it's an "Idaho stop". When you're driving it's just bad driving (I don't have a name for it)
posted by GuyZero at 2:56 PM on July 16, 2018 [10 favorites]

As a Californian, a California stop.
posted by betweenthebars at 2:56 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

Its a California Roll.
posted by atomicstone at 2:57 PM on July 16, 2018 [20 favorites]

When I learned to drive in southern Maryland *mumble* decades ago, it was a California stop.
posted by hanov3r at 2:57 PM on July 16, 2018

I'm also a Californian (4th generation) and we call it a California stop.
posted by janey47 at 2:57 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm in Los Angeles, and everyone around me calls it a California stop.
posted by sprezzy at 2:59 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Or we just call it, "What?? I DID stop!"
posted by sprezzy at 2:59 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

I grew up outside Boston, and learned it as a "California stop".

My wife, who grew up in Cupertino, had never heard the term until I used it.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 3:03 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have never heard of "California stop" until this moment! Grew up in MA, live in WA, "rolling stop."
posted by tristeza at 3:03 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm from Los Angeles and I remember having this conversation with my mother when she was teaching me to drive in the streets of North Hollywood, and she chided me for not fully stopping at the stop sign when literally nobody else did:

Mom: Legally you have to stop. But yes, so few people do it here that when you just slow down they actually call it a California stop.
Me: Really? I've never heard that.
Mom: Because we are *in* California, so we call it a Hollywood stop.
Me: I haven't heard that either. What do they call it in Hollywood?
Mom: *irritated silence*
posted by pazazygeek at 3:06 PM on July 16, 2018 [9 favorites]

When I learned to drive in the Northeast, it was a Philly slide. Everywhere outside that region I've heard it as a California stop.
posted by Fish, fish, are you doing your duty? at 3:11 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I learned to drive in Connecticut, and then spent the next decade in New York; at some point in there, I came to know it as a California stop.
posted by pemberkins at 3:14 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Central Texas, and I've heard both "Houston stop" and "California roll."
posted by telophase at 3:18 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

Grew up in the lower mainland (Vancouver suburbs) of BC and i was taught it was a 'California stop' as well.
posted by cgg at 3:21 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

Given that you asked about the rest of the world: Stop signs are really uncommon here in the UK. Almost every junction is instead a give way. As a result we don't really have a word for this.
posted by leo_r at 3:22 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

I learned to drive in suburban NY and I was taught “rolling stop”. Never heard of “California stop”.
posted by bleep at 3:22 PM on July 16, 2018

Another erstwhile West Coaster: we called it a California Roll. Never heard the Hollywood variation.
posted by eponym at 3:22 PM on July 16, 2018

In high school in St. Louis (c. 2000), we called them 'St. Louis stops'.

I think I also heard them called 'Chicago stops' in college in Chicago, but I'm starting to think that might be a false memory. I just now realized that I've kinda been assuming that every City X called them 'City X stops', the same way everyone complains/brags about their city having THE worst drivers.

I think I've heard mostly 'rolling stop' since I moved to NYC, but I don't drive regularly anymore. I don't think I've ever encountered "California stop" outside of those "Where are you from?" dialect quizzes.
posted by yeahlikethat at 3:23 PM on July 16, 2018

I grew up on the east coast, mostly in the Philly region, and knew it as a California stop.
posted by LadyInWaiting at 3:25 PM on July 16, 2018

Aside from always hearing "rolling", I hear California Stop in Los Angeles, and Texas Stop in Texas.

I guess it depends on how proud your state is of its awful driving?
posted by Lyn Never at 3:28 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

I learned it as a California stop when learning to drive in Tennessee. The "Michigan left" is called that in Michigan, so I'm not surprised a California stop is called such in California.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 3:32 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Philly burbs, we used to call them Bunny Hops.
posted by NoraCharles at 3:33 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

My husband who grew up in Virginia calls them California stops and taught the term to me.
posted by PussKillian at 3:39 PM on July 16, 2018

Seattle here -- we call it the California roll in my experience. Seattlites, in general, like California, and like it best when it stays in California.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:41 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Central Minnesota: California Stop
posted by craven_morhead at 3:42 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Raised in Los Angeles, now living in San Diego: California roll. Less frequently, California stop.
posted by Everydayville at 3:43 PM on July 16, 2018

SF Bay Area kid here. "California roll" or "California stop".
posted by Lexica at 3:48 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I grew up on the Virginia side of the Virginia-North Carolina border, and I always called it a North Carolina stop... until I went to school in the Triangle and had to rely on natives for my rides.

Now that I've lived nearly my entire adult life in Los Angeles, I call it a California stop. In fact, in 2002 I caught a ticket in Van Nuys for one, and the citing LAPD officer called it a California stop while he was writing it up.
posted by infinitewindow at 3:53 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

I call it the "Montreal crawl", but that usage didn't come into my personal lexicon until 2009 when I moved to Quebec.
posted by Kitteh at 4:06 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

Raised in Indianapolis, IN and we all call them California Rolling Stops.
posted by headspace at 4:06 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Live in Sacramento, CA, grew up in Springfield, MO. Called it a California Stop in both places.
posted by sacrifix at 4:07 PM on July 16, 2018

From NY, no name there.

Learned to do it AND that it was called a California Stop upon moving to the west coast in the early aughts.
posted by jbenben at 4:12 PM on July 16, 2018

In St. Louis they just call it a stop. Because nobody here knows how to do anything else.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 4:15 PM on July 16, 2018 [8 favorites]

I've lived in Buffalo, Ithaca, and Syracuse, NY, as well as Augusta, GA, and in northeast TN and in Chattanooga. I've never heard it called anything but a rolling stop.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 4:35 PM on July 16, 2018

nyc, rolling stop, or, in my mom's outraged shriek, "YOU WILL GET POINTS ON YOUR LICENSE AGAIN" which is in fact a LIE, MOM
posted by poffin boffin at 4:37 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Houston. California stop. Never heard Houston stop or Texas stop.


A Corpus Christi stop is when the guy in front of you, the only other car for miles, comes to a dead stop at a yield sign for at least a full minute.

A Houston stop would be when someone flies through a red light well after its turned red
posted by Jacen at 4:46 PM on July 16, 2018 [6 favorites]

In Canada and my British dad always called it a California stop. I'm not sure where he picked it up from though.
posted by misseva at 4:47 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

I grew up in Wisconsin. It was a California stop.
posted by Weeping_angel at 4:50 PM on July 16, 2018

Rhode Island and Rhode Island stop. I cannot rule out the possibility that someone in my family misheard rolling stop somewhere along the line, so will need another Rhode Islander to confirm. We are that arrogant, though. Small state syndrome.
posted by Ruki at 5:00 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Grew up in Delaware. California stop.
posted by Automocar at 5:14 PM on July 16, 2018

Small-town Ohio, mid 90s, "California roll". Although thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I read that in a magazine and I'm not sure I actually heard anyone say it. It made for some confusion when I learned about sushi.
posted by kevinbelt at 5:14 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

NYC, California stop.
posted by corb at 5:17 PM on July 16, 2018

In central Missouri, it was a St. Louis stop.
posted by FencingGal at 5:34 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

When I learned to drive on the east coast, it was called a California stop.

Fun story: my friend got a traffic ticket for a California stop, in the state of California, but she fought the ticket because she didn't want to pay it.

The cop who issued the ticket testified that she made a "California stop."

"You said, 'stop!'" she pointed out to the judge.

The judge agreed with my friend, and her ticket was dismissed. So, you see, a "California stop" has actually qualified as an actual stop at least once in an actual California traffic court.
posted by honey badger at 5:35 PM on July 16, 2018 [11 favorites]

East coast, learned both "rolling stop" and "California stop."
posted by TwoStride at 5:39 PM on July 16, 2018

Someone else from NZ may come along and correct me, but AFAIK there is no slang term for that here. If I were describing it to someone else, I'd call it an 'incomplete stop'. That type of stop is very common in the suburb where I live in particular because it's very busy and street parking obscures your view significantly, so it's common to crawl a few metres beyond the 'stop' line to be able to see oncoming traffic, then just go because if you completely stop you may not get another chance for a while.
posted by BeeJiddy at 5:50 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Grew up in Colorado. They were called California stops. Moved to the Central Valley of California, where they are also called California stops. My mom told me the term sprung from the oil crisis in the '70s, when people would try to save gas by not fully stopping at stop signs, and coasting downhill in neutral, etc.
posted by Lycaon_pictus at 5:53 PM on July 16, 2018

(Have confirmed that I'm not making things up, but it's a Rhode Island roll. As it should be, because it's got a better flow.)
posted by Ruki at 6:01 PM on July 16, 2018

Learned to drive in Phoenix in the 80s: California stop.
posted by kestrel251 at 6:05 PM on July 16, 2018

Eastern WA, when I took Driver's Ed in the 90s, the instructor referred to this as a "California stop."
posted by mordax at 6:05 PM on July 16, 2018

St. Louis stop. If you are driving around in a neighborhood in StL nearly every intersection is a four way stop. That is a lot of stopping- so you just get used to rolling through.
posted by sulaine at 6:11 PM on July 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Grew up and learned to drive in north Florida. It was called a California stop, although I personally am more likely to refer to it as a rolling stop.
posted by litera scripta manet at 6:15 PM on July 16, 2018

I'm in Southern Ontario and call it a stoptional.
posted by glip at 6:45 PM on July 16, 2018 [6 favorites]

I live in western N.C. and call it a "California stop" but I lived in Los Angeles back in the early 1970s so probably picked it up then. Don't know what others here call it, and don't remember what it was called before I left N.C. for CA in 1970.
posted by MovableBookLady at 6:56 PM on July 16, 2018

Here in (not-Boston) MA, I've only ever heard it called a "rolling stop." It's also just the way everyone drives around here—people slow way down, but don't actually stop stop unless there's some kind of conflict at the intersection like a pedestrian or another car arriving at the same time. MA drivers are notoriously aggressive, though.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 7:09 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Northern California—we also call it a California stop.
posted by radioamy at 7:23 PM on July 16, 2018

Been in the Golden State over 25 years, but never heard this called a 'Hollywood' stop before. Nor any kind of roll.

When you're on a bike it's an "Idaho stop".

According to the link, that's

a law that allows cyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign, and a red light as a stop sign

...ergo, for a Stop sign, if there's no one around, you don't even need to slow down.
posted by Rash at 7:35 PM on July 16, 2018

In my Midwestern state we call it a rolling stop.
posted by ramenopres at 7:39 PM on July 16, 2018

Learned to drive in New Hampshire, we called it a "Hollywood stop".
posted by Daily Alice at 7:39 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Been in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years and always heard "California roll" or "rolling stop". I've never heard California Stop or Hollywood Stop, which now seems weird, because apparently everyone else in SoCal uses that, so I live in some kind of weird bubble!
posted by Joh at 7:42 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

It's called running a stop sign...
posted by Pressed Rat at 7:58 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

... and the ticket says failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. In Australia anyway.
posted by GeeEmm at 8:04 PM on July 16, 2018

I'm from Queensland (Brisbane) in Australia, and when I took my driving test aproximiately 20 years ago it was called a rolling stop. You had points taken off your final score if you made one during your driving test. I really remember because I did just that! And somehow still got my licence.
posted by t0astie at 8:19 PM on July 16, 2018

My dad (80) from Brooklyn calls it a "Philadelphia glide".
posted by athirstforsalt at 8:49 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think it’s a west coast thing at least, as I grew up calling it this in Washington.

You don’t need a California border to be affected by California.
posted by lhauser at 9:20 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've only ever said CA stop, but a friend calls it a 'blow by/off" depending on the speed. As in, "Did you see that a*hole blow by/blow off the stop sign?"
posted by BlueHorse at 9:29 PM on July 16, 2018

Grew up in Michigan, where we called it a "rolling stop." Picked up the term "Rhode Island roll"/"Rhode Island roll-out" while living in Providence in 2008-09. Didn't hear the term "California roll" until I moved to central Texas in 2010. Now I live in Northern Virginia, but I have no idea what they call it here.
posted by come_back_breathing at 9:31 PM on July 16, 2018

Grew up in MA, lived in Il, moved to CA - have never heard the term “California stop” until now. Wow. I called it a rolling stop.

That said, in MA, when we blocked an oncoming lane’s traffic while waiting to take a left, we called it a “Massachusetts left” so...
posted by greermahoney at 10:04 PM on July 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Native Southern Californian here. That's a California roll.
posted by aquamvidam at 10:18 PM on July 16, 2018

I first recall the California stop as stopping at a signal and then turning right if clear. In other states you couldn't turn right on a red light!
That's ancient history. Means something different now.
California native here, and driving 50 years.
posted by artdrectr at 11:19 PM on July 16, 2018

From Oregon, with family in Eureka and Long Beach – California stop.

And just for the fun of it, over here in France I too call it a California stop and teach the term to people. SUBVERTIN' UR SUNNEH STATE ACROSS TEH WURLD *hang-ten hand sign, headbangs*
posted by fraula at 11:53 PM on July 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

Spent most of my life in Texas, call it a California stop. But my dad was in the Navy and we did spend some time in California. I have heard other Texans call it a California stop many times. Never heard any other term for it.
posted by tamitang at 12:28 AM on July 17, 2018

Here in Italy we just call it "nosing into cross-traffic until someone chickens out and lets you in".
posted by aqsakal at 1:08 AM on July 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

Grew up in California (both in northern and southern California) and have referred to this and heard this called a California stop or California roll. I never thought how it was funny we called it a California something even though we lived there (ie how Chinese food is just "food" in China)
posted by like_neon at 1:41 AM on July 17, 2018

Grew up/learned to drive in Northern Virginia (DC suburbs); I call this a rolling stop, aka how everyone drives. I have also heard others call it a California stop, but it sounds weirdly quaint to me.
posted by basalganglia at 2:12 AM on July 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Grew up in NJ, learned it was a California Stop. Although Philly Slide would have fit better, as I was often told driving in certain Philly neighborhoods you never ever come to a complete stop at stop signs.
posted by jennypower at 5:44 AM on July 17, 2018

Texas, "California roll," always figured it was a funny based on the sushi roll. Never heard it called anything else.
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:41 AM on July 17, 2018

Grew up in the Bay Area and went to high school in Monterey. It's not a "California stop" because you don't *stop*, it's a California roll. Yes, like the sushi item. :)

I have never heard a specific term for this since moving to New England; nobody I know refers to it as either a "rolling stop" or a "California stop." They're too busy driving to name it, I guess?
posted by Pandora Kouti at 7:49 AM on July 17, 2018

Born and raised in central California and now live in the Bay Area - I've always heard it called/called it a "rolling stop" or "California stop."
posted by yeahyeahrealcute at 8:22 AM on July 17, 2018

all my life in N.Cal. It's a "California stop" colloquially. "Rolling stop" is how I've heard it referred to in more "official" versions like safety advisories.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:31 AM on July 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

MD driver and have only ever heard it called a rolling stop in 40+ years of driving (as opposed to a complete stop).

I recently was stopped by a cop who rather than saying I did not come to a complete stop, told me that all four wheels did not come to a stop at the same time. (I so badly wanted to ask which one was still spinning when the others had stopped but kept my mouth closed. So I just got a warning. But I really did stop.)
posted by maxg94 at 10:56 AM on July 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

In Texas we called it a California Rolling Stop.
posted by GoblinHoney at 11:46 AM on July 17, 2018

East coast (MA, CT), I've only ever heard it called a "rolling stop." People are very fond of it here as well alas.
posted by epanalepsis at 12:24 PM on July 17, 2018

I first heard Hollywood Stop in Chicago. In MN, I had heard rolling stop.
posted by freezer cake at 1:12 PM on July 17, 2018

I grew up in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, and we called it a Hollywood stop. We also used it as a verb, i.e. "You just Hollywood-ed that stop sign."
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 5:34 PM on July 17, 2018

Growing up in Texas, I heard rolling stop in driver's ed and California stop colloquially.

Driving here in Rome, it's called "normal." /tiny sarcastic hamburger, rolling slowly away...
posted by romakimmy at 4:23 AM on July 18, 2018

Spent most of my life in Maine, where we call it a "California stop." Given the reputation (and proximity, especially compared to California) of Bay State drivers here, you'd think we'd call it a "Massachusetts stop."
posted by virago at 5:07 AM on July 18, 2018

California native of California born parents and we all say California stop.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:13 PM on July 18, 2018

Second generation native Californian, grew up in Nor Cal calling it a California Stop.

(Actually my dad's side of the family settled in California in 1850 but later moved to Arizona. I could have been a 5th generation native Californian!)
posted by apricot at 4:40 PM on July 19, 2018