NYC penalizes drivers for “blocking the box”; Boston next?
- photo courtesy of Wikipedia
One of the most-annoying things that happen when you’re driving is coming up on an intersection where your path is blocked by cars going perpendicular to you. You can’t move, they can’t move, tempers flare, guns are drawn … we’ve all been there.
New York City instituted a new regulation a decade ago that penalized drivers who “blocked the box” by adding “two points” to the offenders’ car insurance premiums. It seemed to work.
Until drivers got lazy and ignored the rule. And, until police officers got lazy about writing tickets. (At least that’s my take on it.)
So NYC has added a new penalty.
From the New York Times:
Starting today at noon, the police are going to crack down anew on vehicles that stop in intersections — “blocking the box” — with tickets of $115 as part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s push to reduce congestion.
Before July, “block the box” violations were treated as moving violations, meaning that only uniformed police officers could issue tickets.
Now they are being treated like parking tickets. Traffic Enforcement Agents will be able to issue them …
Whether or not “meter maids” should be in the business of writing tickets for moving vehicle violations is a good question, but irrelevant to the point of this blog entry.
Should we penalize drivers who block intersections?
Source: City Room blog, The New York Times
Loading ...