Quote:

It lets other drivers (and the police!) know for sure that you have stopped


That's the point I was thinking when I started reading the post ....

It used to be that you had to apply your parking brake when at a stop sign when in a car over here.

You guys have a LOT more stop signs than us.
We have mostly 'Give Way' (I think you call them 'yield').
You only have to stop if something is coming (pretty obvious I know ).