As a public service for those of you driving in a car and are unsure of how a 4 way stop works, I have posted the accepted method to navigate this type of intersection.

At a four way stop (or three way stop) every vehicle must come to a complete halt before proceeding one at a time across the intersection, regardless of whether there is any other traffic in sight or not, and also regardless of whether the vehicle is making a turn at the junction or not. If two or more vehicles draw up to one of these junctions and stops, waiting to proceed across it, then they should proceed in the same order in which they arrived. The first vehicle to arrive is the first to proceed, the second vehicle to arrive is the second to proceed, and so on.

If two vehicles arrive at one of these junctions at precisely the same time, so that it is impossible to tell which arrived first, then in theory the vehicle on the right has priority. However, many drivers are unaware of this rule and there are complications due to all the possible permutations of turns. Therefore in this situation in practice most drivers negotiate by polite non-verbal communication (hand waving, etc, but for obvious reasons beware of extending one or two fingers, which might be misinterpreted). Drivers almost always give way to each other until one graciously accepts and proceeds.