Yes, I’ve run my fair share of stop signs. I’m not denying it. In fact, I even decided to cut down on my stop sign running a few years back because I always felt like I was in the minority of drivers who do so. But while I was doing my first-ever stop sign stakeout last Saturday, it became blatantly apparent that not only do others run them, practically everyone in Selma does.

So as I was typing up my article, (feeling extremely hypocritical, might I add), about how more than 50 percent of drivers just blew through the stop sign on Hooper Drive, I realized just how foolish we’ve become.

I, too, love to save those four seconds by not stopping, but in reality, it’s only four seconds. Heck, I yawn longer than that.

By stopping at the signs in Old Town, on Water Avenue, near the Dallas County Jail and even on good ol’ Hooper Drive, we’re ensuring we aren’t responsible for the deaths of innocent bystanders.

Do you know why those stop signs are placed on the two-lane roads at railroad crossings? I’m not entirely sure either. But they’re undoubtedly there for a reason. A lot of the railroad crossings don’t have gates that drop up and down, so if it weren’t for those stop signs, we’d likely have trains in our passenger seats on a more frequent basis.

Even if there are gates, the stop signs are an extra precaution against frivolous lawsuits. If someone can net hundreds of thousands of dollars from McDonald’s for spilling hot coffee in their own laps, Lord knows someone would find a way to sue the local cities or the railroad for the train that hit them; the train they no doubt drove in front of.

Our foolish driving tendencies came to the forefront of conversation once again Tuesday, as I stood in the Alabama State Troopers Post in Selma listening to Gov. Robert Bentley kick-off the “Click-It or Ticket” campaign. Hearing of the countless lives lost because of careless drivers statewide, I couldn’t help but rethink a lot of my driving habits.

So my plea to you is this: As area schools continue to let out for the summer, more and more children are going to be out at all hours of the day. And they won’t just be outside in their yards, they’ll be in the streets chasing a lost basketball or walking to their buddy’s house. And someone, I can almost guarantee it, will run a stop sign and put one of those children’s lives at risk.

So take those extra four seconds to stop.

Nothing bad can come of it.