SALEM — Some chaotic local intersections have drawn international attention.
Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world have been turning their eyes to Salem to watch livestreams of local three-way intersections where the channel’s title claims that “98.73 percent of vehicles” do not stop at the stop signs.
The stream, called Stopsigncam, has had a consistent audience of 1,000 to 3,000 viewers on the streaming site Twitch and has garnered 190,000 followers. Fans comment in the chat about passing cars and their inability to stop at the sign.
Some locals who recognize the address of the intersection perform for the camera, doing dance moves, backflips and engaging in lightsaber duels.
The stream existed in relative anonymity until a gamer named JhbTeam promoted it on his Twitter account and made a TikTok about the stop sign that now has millions of views.
Maise Shepard, a Salem resident, saw that TikTok video and began to follow the stop sign on Twitch before even realizing it was located in her home city.
“Watching the livestream is entertaining because it’s a group of people all invested in how ineffective this stop sign is,” said Shepard. “It’s so absurd. You can rely on the fact that the car won’t stop at the sign and then you can rejoice with strangers online about it.”
The original location of the stream had to be relocated due to complaints from neighbors, who had become the subject of multiple pranks from followers of the stream. According to the gaming site Kokatu, multiple residents have had pizzas sent to their homes.
“We plan to go on the road, to the worst stop signs in the area, and commence the stream,” Stopsigncam’s owner said following the decision to move. “We shall see how it goes.”
Since then, the stream has begun moving around to different stop signs around the area, with their latest set-up located at the corner of Tremont and School streets.
An average five minutes on the stream proceeds as follows:
A blue sedan speeds past the stop sign, not even tapping their brakes.
“DIDN’T EVEN SLOW,” remarks one of the viewers.
A minivan and a taxi both glide past the sign in rapid succession to the delight of the chat.
During a lull in the action, viewers begin to list their locations in the chat. Albuquerque, California, Dallas, South Dakota, Germany and Montreal are all represented.
Finally, a man in a black car comes to a full stop. He then gets out of the car, and does a dance move for the camera. Apparently he’s a fan.
