Blog: Traffic

Dan loves traffic. But his lifestyle is under attack by politicians who are trying to "mitigate" traffic.

"In 2009, Congress will decide whether to continue to spend billions on highways and roads to generate more traffic. Or whether they're going to spend more money on trains and buses that suck the lifeblood right out of traffic."

Via Smart Growth America.

Walking down Eighth Avenue from 50th St this afternoon around 4:30 pm, at intersection after intersection drivers going crosstown were blocking the box, moving into the intersection without space to exit on the other end, blocking pedestrians crossing and traffic on the avenue. It happened at 50th, 49th, 47th, 46th, and 45th. It only didn't happen at 48th because aggressive pedestrians moved in front of the last SUV before it could enter the intersection.

But to make up for the relative lawfulness at 47th, one block later in addition to *two* box-blockers, a cab tried to turn left into a bicyclist, opting to force the rider over rather than let him pass, and then when the bicyclist yelled at the cab, the driver honked his horn loudly from just a foot or two away. I wish I got the cab number.

When I first started visiting New York they had "Don't Block the Box - Fine + 2 Points" signs everywhere and seemed to be aggressively cracking down on gridlock. The city could make a lot of money fining bad drivers. Why don't they?

Once, riding in a car service trying to enter the Holland Tunnel, drivers heading into the tunnel from Canal Street eastbound were backed up going into the tunnel, but they entered the intersection anyway, blocking drivers headed uptown on Hudson Street and drivers headed westbound on Canal. So the drivers on Hudson responded by driving into the intersection too and trying to inch their way through the stopped traffic, making it impossible for Canal St traffic to get through, etc. Nobody could go anywhere, while Hudson and Canal were totally clear.

I called 311, but all they could do was to take down the complaint as a "quality of life issue." People are actively breaking the law, but the NYPD can't be bothered to deal with it. They do have time to infiltrate peaceful bicycle rides, however. Can they please infiltrate box-blockers? If someone tells them that some anarchists are going to drive through midtown and create gridlock, would the NYPD pay attention then?

Update: apparently large ugly yellow Hummers are noticeable enough for the NYPD to enforce traffic laws upon, at least when a cop car is stuck in the gridlock.