Europe is definitely heavier on environmental design to enforce behaviours rather than signs, as nobody will obey a sign if they can get away with it.

I think most people obey 4-way stop-sign intersections because they're afraid of getting T-boned by another car, not because they obey signs for the sake of obeying signs. People ignore signs when they can get away with it, but a 4-way stop-sign intersection is not such a case to anybody but the suicidally reckless.

How do they work in California?

I think what your relatives mean is that if everyone has a stop then it'll be messy because everyone will try to go first after they have stopped...

Here in the UK they have installed 2 stops and 2 give ways at a nearby crossing and it's already quite dangerous because no-one is sure what to do: those with give-ways think they should go before those with stops, those with stops think they should go first if they arrived first... honking ensues very often. If you're lucky it ends in a very British "you go first, no you go first" contest, which is not very practical, either.

you stop and go in the order you arrived to the stop line.

That sounds dangerous. It’s not uncommon for different people to order events differently, I can see two cars crossing at the same time, each driver convinced to be first.

It does lead to quite a few 'what the f.. arms up.. stares' when there is a perceived violation but it works. Probably because the cars within the stop signs are going relatively slow.

For near-simultaneous arrivals the right of way goes to the driver on the right.

Specification unclear. If two or more entries to the intersection have at stopped vehicle waiting to cross, a waiting vehicle is somewhere "on the right" of each waiting vehicle. If only two vehicles are present, and are across from each other, and at least one of them wants to turn across the path of the other, each vehicle is _equally_ "on the right". A relative reference is not sufficient.

Some people try clock-relative turns, but that only works if the vehicles arrived while an existing rotation (of prior vehicles) was in progress.

given that people generally don't spin their tires off the line from a stop sign, it's fairly safe. If it's obvious that two people are going at the same time then one that has advanced less far in that time will generally ease off the throttle and let the more advanced party continue.

there are accidents, of course, but i'm not sure of any 4 way traffic junction that's infallible.

and as others stated, right-of-way rules are observed atop the social norms.

If two people arrival at the same time, the person on the right gets right of way.

It works fine most of the time and 4-way stops are usually only used in city streets where the speed limit is 40-50 km/h.

They are dangerous if used on more rural roads where people aren't expecting they have to stop or misjudge right of way.

> How do they work in California?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw-nvo4BzOM