Round-about

I know I've ranted about American drivers before, but this is more a complaint about the whole system, and its "I'm not going to change even if it makes life easier" attitude.

This is a four-way stop intersection:

And it does exactly what it says on the tin: everyone must stop when they approach it. Fine if you're the only car there, but if there are others, then they get to go in the order in which they arrived. If more than one car arrives simultaneously the rules of who gets to go first are not exactly simple.

And as a pedestrian, it's equally confusing. Do I have to follow the "whoever gets there first" rule? Or do I always get right-of-way? Or will I get run down by someone turning right and paying absolutely no attention to the road?

All of this would be solved with the simple insertion of a mini-roundabout, which I'll include a picture of for those Americans who've never seen one before: