Small Town

Why is it that there are always cops in small towns that stand in intersections that don't need cops and direct traffic?  And why is it that I am always the car that the cop stops while he decides to let everyone else go in twenty different directions for about ten minutes before he allows me on the road?  And why is it that these cops don't actually stand in intersections with lights but intersections with yield signs?  And why is it that people can't just figure out how to yield?