Stop. Blocking. the Intersection!

[Kogarashi]

Trying to get out of Walmart today (and not even at the normally busy time), I got to sit through an entire green light because people don't seem to realize that if you can't get all the way across the intersection, you shouldn't enter the intersection in the first place. So I got to stare at the side of an SUV that shouldn't have been there while the turn lane to my left got to go because there was just enough of a gap there.

And then, to make matters worse, when my green light came around again, I got to watch more cars pile into the intersection at the last second and block me! Luckily, this time they managed to move before my light turned red again, and I got to go home.

I hate gridlock.

[bankworking]

There is a section of lights on my way home that seem to be designed to make certain that the road I'm on will block the traffic of those trying to exit the highway. I've been honked at before because I try my best to wait until there is room enough on the other side of the intersection for my car to actually fit before I actually cross, because I know if I don't there a good chance the light will turn and I'll still be blocking the intersection. Doesn't matter if the light is green if there's no room on the other side. And if I end up having to sit an extra light cycle, well, that just proved my point that there wasn't enough room, so if I' had gone, I (and probably the two cars behind me) would have been keeping the cars from the highway from getting off the exit.

People would be a whole lot less stressed on the road if they just stopped trying to get wherever a while minute or two faster.

[Kogarashi]

I know! If I'm actually on the main road around that time, I always wait, even at a green, if there isn't room on the other side of the intersection for my car. I do this because I know that if I go, the three or so cars behind me will go too, and then the light will turn red and we won't get anywhere and the side street will be blocked. So I stay put until the traffic on the far side of the intersection moves enough for my car to fit.

I usually end up with gridlock behind me anyway because no one else seems to be that courteous, but at least I'm not part of it at that point.

[Setsunaela]

We have similar problems at some intersections around where I live, but the biggest problem I've encountered is actually similar but not the same. As Rummy could attest, the left turn lane to get to the shopping center I work in holds MAYBE five cars. However, 8-12 want to turn at any given time during medium or worse traffic, so people block the lefthand straight lane all the way back to the light behind it, causing the OP's problem at this intersection. It annoys me because there's two more ways to get in this place but no one seems to want to use them..

[Kogarashi]

We have similar problems at some intersections around where I live, but the biggest problem I've encountered is actually similar but not the same. As Rummy could attest, the left turn lane to get to the shopping center I work in holds MAYBE five cars. However, 8-12 want to turn at any given time during medium or worse traffic, so people block the lefthand straight lane all the way back to the light behind it, causing the OP's problem at this intersection. It annoys me because there's two more ways to get in this place but no one seems to want to use them..

We have this occasionally at an intersection near my house. Two lanes go straight while there's part of a third that's left-turn-only. The left-turn lane holds 4-5 cars, but on some busy days, there are as many as 6 or more that want to actually turn, so while the left-turn lane is stuck waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, one of the two straight lanes is clogged up and not moving. Unfortunately, there isn't another easy way onto the side stree there. Fortunately, the main street has two straight lanes, so while the one is clogged through traffic can use the other.

[blas]

Gridlock around here is always caused by people who refuse to stay back and wait out the clog instead of stopping in the MIDDLE of the intersection, blocking anyone from turning either way.

[EricKei]

I do the same thing...I love it when the twit behind me honks at me for not blocking the intersection like any other red-blooded American would, of course, do, and then said twit roars around me....and then he gets 2 or 3 OTHER cars laying on their horns, pissed at HIM for blocking the intersection

[Javarod]

Trying to get out of Walmart today (and not even at the normally busy time), I got to sit through an entire green light because people don't seem to realize that if you can't get all the way across the intersection, you shouldn't enter the intersection in the first place. So I got to stare at the side of an SUV that shouldn't have been there while the turn lane to my left got to go because there was just enough of a gap there.

And then, to make matters worse, when my green light came around again, I got to watch more cars pile into the intersection at the last second and block me! Luckily, this time they managed to move before my light turned red again, and I got to go home.

I hate gridlock.

That's so common here that some of the towns have resorted to painting boxes in the middle of the intersection and putting up signs that say do not block the box. If you have to resort to that, you've got problems, and they're not always the drivers.

[EricKei]

We have a few places here that have "do not block intersection" signs (no boxes...yet) -- it's illegal statewide, sign or not -- but the ones with signs are simply locations where the problem is chronic (and, hopefully, where the law is actually enforced)

[teh_blumchenkinder]

The cops should start sitting there and writing tickets. A teacher of mine in high school (secondary) got a nice fat one because he was a foot in the intersection during red.
so much money....

[protege]

That's so common here that some of the towns have resorted to painting boxes in the middle of the intersection and putting up signs that say do not block the box. If you have to resort to that, you've got problems, and they're not always the drivers.

There are quite a few of those downtown, simply because the lights aren't timed well, and traffic downtown sucks. Too many intersections with extremely short left-turn arrows, mean that it's always interesting getting around. Also adding to the mix, are city bus drivers who can't understand the concept of not blocking the intersections. They'll insist on heading through a yellow, and when the red comes, they're in the middle, holding up everyone else up

[Kogarashi]

Ugh. Buses have probably got to be the worst because just one person's selfishness/cluelessness/rudeness ends up blocking the entire intersection for all involved.

Unfortunately, the cops haven't caught on to the notion that they can make mondo money in gridlock citations by staking out that intersection. And it can't even be blamed on poorly timed lights or short intersections or whatever. The road on either side of the problem intersection is rather long between lights, and two lanes wide or more depending on which side you're looking at. It's just that around here, far too many people think that if the light's green, they should go regardless of whether or not traffic is backed up on the other side of the intersection.

[ThirdGenRetail]

It is actually not only illegal here in Resort Town to block intersections, but they also have cameras at a few intersections. Mainly, they're actually for people caught running red lights, but they're also good for catching dingbats blocking the intersection. $500 fine to do that here. Incidentally, we don't have many problems of people blocking the intersections...