Basically, you creep very slowly up to the stop sign, look both ways, then go through without actually stopping.

Pretty much a yield then? You yielded and a stop sign?

It means you slow down but don't fully stop at the stop sign.

So a California stop is the only way we know to stop in Italy :)

The term around here is a rolling stop. much less confusing

As an American I have no idea either

Yeah, it's a California ROLLING stop.

it's when you gently roll to the sign rather than stopping behind the stopping line

A California Stop is when you slow down and roll through the stop sign instead of coming to a complete stop.

A rolling stop. Meaning, Op didn't stop completely. While in drivers ed. Which means OP deserved it. We all do it, but pick your moment.

Why the hell is it called a California rolling stop when people do it EVERYWHERE? Is it to feel special or something?

I've learned it as the good old Michigan roll by

it's when you don't completely stop at the stop sign. you just very slowly roll past it while looking for cross traffic.

as an American neither do I.

California stop is rolling up to the sign slowly and going straight thru if it is clear.

So it's a rolling stop?

51, I'm not really sure why we call it that here in California if everyone does it, but it kind of feels like a joke. No one in California actually stops, not even the cops. At least around here. I don't even think about when I do it but my little sister always yells at me "California stop!!!"

I'd never heard this referred to as a California stop, either. It's commonly done in Joburg to make life harder for carjackers.

So basically a California stop is bad driving. Noted.

Supposedly, the term came specifically from San Francisco, where the hills make it hard to accelerate after a complete stop without rolling backwards first or your car stalling out.

slowing down, but not stopping completely

As a fellow Australian, and having read the answers, I am now wondering what American drivers do when they face 'Give Way' signs.

Here we refer to it as a Georgia roll, and my driving instructor actually used the term during my diving test.

One usually just slows down to a crawl and continue or have a tiny stop to have a small scan at a stop sign. That is strictly illegal in California. A California stop is where your wheels have to completely stop rotating, you look to your left, then right, and then left again, and proceed if you are cleared. This has to be done even if you clearly know nobody is on the road, since you will get a ticket if you fail to do so. In short, it's just the proper way to stop.

A California stop is where you roll through a stop sign without actually stopping, just slowing down. I don't know why people bother calling it a "California stop" anymore, because I see people do it all over the place. Some people don't even bother to slow down.

Californian here. We don't heed stop signs, we just roll slowly through them.

I think it's called a California stop only in California. I live in florida and have either traveled to or lived in almost ten other states and every single one of them call it a rolling stop, which is pretty self explanatory. California stop, though? that sounds ridiculous

as a Californian I have no idea what a California stop is

Maybe it's the vehicular equivalent of the Liverpool kiss

Just a stop where you don't stop all the way

As a (former) Californian, I have no idea what a California stop is either.

A California stop is when you ram into the side of a car by the rear wheels to cause it to spin out. I think OP meant he "rolled" a stop sign.

Thanks for asking the question I didn't know either. Don't you have a sign that let you do a rolling stop and a stop sign that requires you to really stop?

Born and raised in Cali and have never heard that before either. It's called a rolling stop.

lol its basically when you slow down at a stop sign i think im not certain but for better explanation its when you get so slow that your at the point of stopping say 5-15 mph but not completely stopped like your supposed to be. its actually still considered illegal why he didnt like he/she doing so. i think just about everyone does it

lol im from mississippi and never heard of rolling stop but have heard California roll lol

so sounds like what we Australian's call a give way.

No clue why you're being downvoted. We call it a "California roll" in my area too, because you just slowly roll through the stop. Plus it sounds like sushi, yum.

As an Australian, you don't have Google either, I presume?

What is a give way sign? Is it the same as a yield sign? People do rolling stops at those too, even if it is completely obvious that nobody is coming, because people are stupid.

I'm a Californian and I don't even know what a California stop is

I've heard "California stop" but I've heard it referred to more often as a "Chicago stop." That one makes sense.

just slow down and check for cars then go

No offense but no we don't all do it and I don't cross when the light says not to even if there is no traffic either.

Bring it balloons and chocolate, of course!

Along with a get well card.

Don't come to a complete stop at a stop sign. Slowly roll up and drive through.

then that's a whole world stop. not a californian

That's not a California stop. That's a rolling stop.

It was an oddball thing for the instructor to do. But you have to admit, if your instructor made you do something like that, you'd damn well remember to make a complete stop next time. :-P

As someone who grew up in California, I can tell you that that is complete horseshit. No matter where I am in the US, California stops are just as common as actual stops, but California is awful (especially SoCal where I spent the first 20 years of my life). They drive me absolutely nuts. It seems like such a trivial thing to get in a twist about, but it bugs me to no end that people have so little respect for the giant hunks of metal we drive around in. Driving is based entirely on trusting strangers to follow the rules of the signs and the little painted lines on the ground and I feel like people forget that.

I do something called the Canadian Stop; better sorry than save.

As somebody learning to drive in California, even I can tell you that is wrong. There's literally one stop sign in my city that NOBODY stops for. They don't even slow down for it. Yesterday I witnessed at least 5 cars IN A ROW do a California stop at that one sign.

I don't think rolling stops are a California thing, it's an asshole-driver thing, and everywhere has it's share of assholes. In my area of southern California, 98% of people stop properly. Pretty rarely do you see a person who rolls through to beat traffic so they don't have to stay stopped a long time. If you're learning to drive, just be safe and follow laws.

I live and grew up in a town that is a suburb of San Francisco. There have been countless times where I have almost gotten into a car crash because of people doing Californian stops at the main intersection in our town. So yes Californian stops is a real thing in California.