Drivers approaching the four-way stop at Huntsman Boulevard and Sydenstricker Road utilize a mix of courtesy and a "sixth sense" to determine who has the right of way.
Roseanne Cohen goes through the interchange several times a day. Either she's shuttling her children to Orange Hunt Elementary school or visiting a sister who lives in the surrounding neighborhood. She's seen the force at work, lumping it under neighborhood courtesy.
"I haven't had a problem with it," she said. "You make eye contact, use common courtesy."
Heather Aycock also has a kindergartner at Orange Hunt.
"People are always real courteous when you're making a left," Aycock said. "Half the time, you know the person at the intersection."
No one seems sure what the rule is though. Who goes first? The first one there? The car making a right or left? In the Virginia Department of Transportation manual, on pages 34-35, a four-way stop is not directly addressed. In the section titled "At Uncontrolled Intersections," the manual addresses coming off an interstate, out of a driveway, two vehicles making turns in an intersection, yielding to pedestrians, handicapped persons, funeral processions, military convoys and a policeman directing traffic, but not four cars arriving at a four-way intersection at the same time. One rule that might pertain reads: "Drivers entering any intersection or traffic circle must yield to traffic already in it." What about when two or more arrive at the same time?
HUNTSMAN BOULEVARD is a residential street with a speed limit of 25 mph, and Sydenstricker is a primary residential road with a speed limit of 30 mph. Jennifer Glenn uses the intersection occasionally. As she recalls from driver's education, the rule is it's first come, first served, except when all cars arrive at the same time, and then it's yield to the person on the right.
"There's lots of times people don't know that," she said. Glenn is aware of the eye-contact method. Sometimes it's not fool-proof though, and she's experienced the hesitation before.
"There's been the 'you go, you stop, you go, you stop,' but nothing serious," she said.
Kerry Maxwell goes through the intersection about five times a day. She isn't sure people know the rule, but she has a way that seems to work.
"If they don't go, then I go," she said. "It seems to be working."
Installing a traffic light at Huntsman and Syndenstricker appeared to be an unpopular suggestion, except for the resident on the northeast corner of the intersection. She waits for others to go first, which sometimes gets rude responses from other motorists. She didn't give her name.
"A light would make it work," she said. "I just wait until it's clear. Sometimes they don't even stop."
Renzo Putzeys remembered once about six months ago, when "the system" didn't work. He was in his room late at night when he heard the two cars collide.
"It was a real loud one," he said, so he is careful when going through the intersection.
"I've always let the cars that stopped before me go, and then I go. They do yell sometimes," Putzeys said.
Norm Byers, chief of staff in Supervisor Elaine McConnell's (R-Springfield) office, goes through the intersection a lot. He's seen the neighborly attitude at work.
"Drivers are courteous, people will wait their turn at the intersection," he said.
A traffic light would ruin the opportunity for neighborhood courtesy.
"I don't want a light," said Aycock.
"I've thought about a light there," Glenn admitted.
According to VDOT spokesperson Ryan Hall, 8,900 vehicles travel on Sydenstricker to the Fairfax County Parkway through the intersection, and 8,600 on Sydenstricker from the intersection to Old Keene Mill Road. That amount of traffic does not warrant a light at the intersection. However, in 1998, VDOT looked into putting a roundabout there.
"That idea was rejected by the citizens," Hall said.