Hey police, want to do something to help alleviate the metro area’s gridlock? Cite people who pull into the intersection when it is obvious that they are going to block it.
I witnessed with my own eyes this morning a DeKalb County Police officer who simply could not be bothered to get out of her car to cite the fools who were blatantly pulling into the intersection on Ponce de Leon (outside APD jurisdiction) though traffic was clearly at a standstill, thus blocking any north-south traffic. This cop sat there in plain view, watching and doing nothing as one brain-dead individual after another stacked up in the intersection. She wasn’t directing traffic. She wasn’t on her way up ahead where an accident had apparently happened. She didn’t have her blue lights on.
My thoughts, as a DeKalb County taxpayer, are that if she can’t be bothered to cite for something that gets in the way of my right to freedom of travel and commerce, then I can’t be bothered to pay her. DeKalb should dock her pay.
Nothing could send a clearer message to drivers than seeing intersection-blockers getting ticketed. That cop was going nowhere. It wouldn’t have eaten into her time to get out and walk over to the imbeciles and cite them. Maybe she was concerned that the humidity would play havoc with her hair.
Here’s a clue to drivers who aren’t quite sure whether or not they should pull forward: If the back bumper of the car ahead of you is still in the intersection, that’s a pretty good sign that you shouldn’t enter the intersection. If municipalities would hang a fine on this equal to the average car payment, post signs to that effect at every moderately busy intersection, and cops would ferociously cite for it, we could cut down on a lot of Atlanta’s gridlock.
Having the police ferociously enforce the law, would then lead them to start using laws to generate revenue. Which, I believe is illegal. One of the reasons that they city was forced to give up their illegal red-light cameras. However, in NYC, some of their intersections are painted in a certain pattern. If your car is in there, when the light turns red, you get a ticket. The gridlock all depends on which direction you’re traveling at the time. Either way, you’re in rush hour traffic. As for the Dekalb cop, he’s too busy doing other things. And he probably doesn’t want to hear the arguments from the drivers that are cited about why the other drivers weren’t ticketed also.
Stephanie,
You are 100% right about the lack of emphasis on keeping metro Atlanta’s intersections flowing.
It is one of the very few things that people from New York City (Yankees) are correct about in criticizing the South. When visiting NYC you will notice that major intersections are designated with wide white lines with signs directing motorists “don’t block the box”. Hefty fines are the rule.
I would like to see the intersection cameras (cash cameras) send tickets to this type of inconsiderate traffic offender. “Don’t block the box” ticketing would actually help traffic flow, and the people ticketed for blocking intersections would be helping city revenue by paying a “stupid tax”.
Can you tell I also get angry when inconsiderate drivers blocks intersections?
The “tax on stupidity” is exactly what I was thinking of calling it! And, It Never Ends, they already use laws to gin up revenue, I’m just asking them to enforce one that could really help traffic flow (not to mention avoid life-threatening situations in which ambulances and firetrucks can’t get through). Chief Turner wouldn’t need so many roadblocks if our cops cited people for blocking intersections; I’ll bet people who block intersections are more likely to have priors. Also, the citizens would really support it. If I saw a cop ticketing someone for blocking an intersection, I’d want to shake his hand and thank him. The problem, as I understand it, might occur in the courts, however. Some cops have told me that when they cite for this, judges are too easily swayed by arguments from offenders that they were “confused.” The painted box or signs should help clear up that confusion–for drivers and judges alike.
There is no confusion. Don’t enter the intersection if you cannot cross the ENTIRE intersection. What is so confusing about that? If you can’t figure that out, maybe you shouldn’t be driving……or judging others on what is right or wrong for that matter. I would think a judge who couldn’t figure that out would be one of the “easy to remove” people in your other blog.
I’m not going to start an online argument about the pro’s and cons of the gridlock. But, in NYC the police have civilians that are allowed to cite people for this, as they’re assigned an intersection. One of the reason for this is that the 35,000+ police officers have other things to do. Are laws routinely enforced to “gin up” revenue? Happens all the time, doesn’t make it legal.
@Admin, the biggest reason the cops do the roadblocks is that people in the communities complain about not seeing cops in their neighborhoods. What’s APD’s answer to that, conduct roadblocks and mess with the tax base. If cops posted up at the intersections and started writing citations, just how much worse would the gridlock be, if the cops had 5 cars stopped – taking up a lane of traffic, while doing license, registration and insurance checks…only compounds the problem….i know its a pain in the a.. On top of that, you’d want to shake the cops hand when he’s writing someone else a ticket, but won’t if he enforces the law on you. Kind of like, when parents complain about rowdy kids in the neighborhood, until the cops bring home their kid….as to the priors – priors for what…are they convicted felons, habitual traffic violators or just someone trying to get to a meeting or pick up their kid at school.
With regards to Rob, a little common sense can go a long way.
On top of all of that, don’t forget one thing…14 officers have been killed in the line of duty, so far this year – 11 were shot in a 24hr period…there was a 37% increase in officer deaths in 2010 and that increase was not from the usual car accidents that law enforcement, that was from violent action on police…On Jan 23rd, some crazy SOB walked into a Detroit police precinct and opened fire….at the end of the day, some will bitch about gridlock at an intersection, others will bitch about violent crime in VaHi is out of control….i want the cops catching the bad guys
@It Never Ends
First, there’s nothing wrong with argument. For all of humanity’s existence arguing has been the absolute best way to learn which ideas stand up to scrutiny and which are simply lame. My point was not that enforcing the no-blocking-intersections law should be a way to gin up cash, but that unlike other laws that have been used to do exactly that, this law really should be enforced ferociously and should carry a very hefty fine.
Throughout history, societies have indicated what’s important to them by the price of the fine placed on certain infractions. Nowhere in the world is enforcement of the intersection law more important than here in the metro Atlanta area. Not only do we have some of the worst gridlock of any major city in America, but that gridlock is largely caused by the morons who block intersections. In doing so, they cause thousands of cars to idle, releasing dangerous substances into our air producing one of the highest per capita rates of asthma in the hemisphere.
But that’s only a byproduct. I wonder if you have ever seen a fire truck or ambulance trapped by the halfwits who block intersections? I have. I’ve watched as precious minutes tick by as some idiot sits there, blatantly illegally blocking an intersection and stupidly mouths the words at the fire rescue people “I’m sorry.” They’re sorry? Someone is dying because of their stupidity, selfishness and criminal behavior and they’re “sorry”?
Hanging a huge fine on blocking intersections isn’t a matter of ginning up revenue, it’s a matter of making good laws work for the benefit of the many at the expense of the imbecilic few who are to blame for much of our air and traffic woes. The commenter “It Never Ends” mentions the painted squares in NYC and says that civilians are in charge of enforcing intersection clearance. I know that can’t always be the case. Friends of mine have been ticketed by cops in NYC for blocking intersections (and they deserved it). Furthermore, that’s hardly an argument to make here in Atlanta where we don’t even go so far as to paint the intersection square or ask the DOT to do it or ask permission of the DOT to do it. We don’t even post fine amounts for blocking intersections. The signs we have say only “Do Not Block Intersection” like it’s a bad idea, not that it’s something that Atlanta is serious about and will take a bite out of your pocket.
Even littering seems more important than the life-threatening results of blocking intersections. The DOT and other agencies post signs that say things like “Littering $300 Fine” in certain areas. DeKalb County posts signs that warn you’ll be fined $500 for talking on your cell phone if you are involved in an accident. Yet surely blocking an intersection is a much more surefire way to cause traffic mayhem than either of the above.
We need to stick a fine on blocking intersections so hefty that the message we send is unmistakable: We will not tolerate people blocking intersections. The lame excuse that people have places they have to be is simply that—a lame excuse. We all have places we have to be. We have laws to help make sure we get there safely. The fools who endanger the rest of us by blocking intersections should be paying for their stupidity and criminality.