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Mayor Bloomberg just hates congestion: He announced a plan to more aggressively go after drivers who "block the box" at intersections. The city describe box blocking as "driving into an intersection as the light is changing without room to continue through it, thus blocking traffic," and it seriously sucks. Mayor Bloomberg wants to allow all 2,800 traffic agents to issue tickets (for some reason, only a few traffic enforcement agents can issue them now) in a faster and more efficient way with handheld devices and increase the fine from $90 to $115.
Last year, the city issued 13,880 box-blocking violations. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said, "When you block the box in Times Square, it impacts what happens in the Village." And City Councilwoman Gale Brewer said, "Many New Yorkers - particularly seniors and the disabled - are dependent on buses to get around. When cars 'block the box,' other drivers and, more importantly, buses cannot move. Selfish drivers are one of the causes of our congestion problem. I fully support Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to control this nuisance."
"Don't Block the Box" was a campaign started in the 1980s, apparently an idea borrowed from London. Check out this 1999 address from Rudy Giuliani about not blocking the box, here is Stringer's 2006 block the box study, and here's the city's official Don't Block the Box t-shirt.
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They should borrow another idea from London... congestion pricing.
Meanwhile, I'd advocate fines starting at $10,000 and going up from there, depending on the length of your car.
I advocate Tim N. as moron of the week.
PRAISE THE LORD. There should be a cop at every intersection in Midtown on weekdays. They could make a MINT, and maybe we could get the terribly unfair Unincorporated Business Tax repealed too while we're at it.
yeah it's about time!
i'd rather not have to pay cops to sit around chatting and talking on their cell phones aat every intersection, i dont think they could hand out enough tickets to make up the wasted salaries... not to mention they create more congestion then they solve if they just left it to the lights.
that shirt is the best subtle anti-cockblocking proclamation i've ever seen. Kudos.
I think it's high time we ALL remembered we're in this together, and pedestrians who stop or slow traffic are also a pain. As if their mothers never taught them to wait their turn.
There should be a cop at every intersection in Midtown on weekdays. They could make a MINT
How many more cops do they have to recruit? How much overtime?
Weez...that's exactly what I was thinking! But it does beg the question as to what is the fine for cockblocking?
I once punched a box-blockers car during the transit strike.
Next car to get punched: annoying a-holes who honk when you wait at a green light for space to open up across the street in order to avoid blocking the box. These scum-suckers are right up there with people who honk .000001 seconds after the light turns green from 5 cars back.
The worst box-blockers, in my experience, are charter buses. They take up the entire box, and don't have the maneuverability to squeeze around traffic, which a car can do if it blocks the box by mistake.
The most important question...will they ticket city buses and commuter buses? They are some of the worst offenders of blocking the box! Their length blocks the entire box, and they do so with impunity! Go check out the intersection of 5th Avenue and 57th Street any weekday between 4-6PM. The buses block pedestrians and cars, making for an incredibly dangerous situation.
In NYC you can park on the street for free. So why not have a car or two or three? As a result, there is no place to park -- and the city collects over $700 million per year in fines, with parking fines leading the list.
Similarly, the alternative to "congestion pricing" could be "congestion fining." Is that the way to allocate scarce space?
Why can't Americans drive properly? If you can't make it across an intersection, don't enter it. If the guy in front of you IS waiting to make sure he can make it across, don't lay on the the horn; you will just get stuck further into "the box". If you aren't the fastest car on the highway, stay to the right. Same goes for walking down the sidewalk and taking the stairs in the subway: stay to the right.
2nd the commuter buses being some of the worst. They run reds, block the box and change lanes like its Daytona. I've even heard numerous MTA drivers complain about them.
Why do they do it? Because no one gives them tickets. That should change. Plain and simple.
exclaricire... Dead right, except you left out the tour buses. Anyone who has ever tried to get across Canal Street - by any means - knows what I'm talking about.
Not blocking the box is actually a somewhat difficult skill that has to be learned. Non-NYC drivers really don't encounter the same situation, so I can understand people from out of town fucking it up. But I'm pro-ticketing, of course, as long as the officers can do it with a little intelligence.
In general, I'd say that the box-blocking situation is actually not that bad out there, considering.
What I hate is the jerky stop-and-start rhythm that builds up on the West Side Highway when traffic gets really heavy. You gotta stop at every green light, wait and see if traffic ahead of you will clear, lurch forward, stop, crawl ahead for another block, repeat.
They should also start ticketing the limo drivers who triple park in front of the hotels in midtown - backs up the traffic coming down Park and Lex for 30 blocks.
i dont think they could hand out enough tickets to make up the wasted salaries... not to mention they create more congestion then they solve if they just left it to the lights.
If one officer hands out two $100 fines per day in a five day work week, that's $52,000/year.
I think that would cover their salary, no?
Want to stop traffic violations? Suspend a drivers' license until they re-take their road test every time they get a moving violation. Costing people time in NYC is far more effective than costing them money.
So they'll ticket you for getting stuck in the intersection, but they'll ignore the geto-limo drivers, towncars, NJ-idiots, and taxis who run red lights on a regular basis? That makes a lot of sense.
No simpathy ! Go make that money !!!!!