Using laws in NYS I think I have a way to legal way to ‘block the box’ (get stuck in the intersection while the light changes so you are blocking cross flow traffic).
here’s my theory:
You want to make a left turn but oncomming traffic prevents this. You are allowed (a single car) to pull into the intersection as long as there is space for you on the other side (on the road where you wish to turn on).
Normally if you could not go you would wait till the oncomming traffic light turns red and then complete your turn. [rant]yes this is the correct way to make a left turn - you do NOT gun it when you get a green and cut everyone off who is going straight you f…)[/rant]. But if while waiting in the intersection several cars in the oncomming lane turn right and then block your passage through the intersection onto the road where you want to turn you will be stuck in the intersection following all the rules.
Is this some loophole to the don’t block the box rule?, Could you get a ticket for trying to make a left turn following proper rules?, if so would it hold up in court if circumstanced were made known to the judge?, Is there something I am overlooking?
When ever a light turns green, right of way DOES NOT go to the people who are facine the light (going straight). When a light turns green right of way goes to the people still stuck in the intersection wating to turn left from before. I’m not sure how the people turning right play into it, but I’d imagine that you might have right of way over them, since you are now in a very dangerous posistion.
The people turning right are from the oncomming traffic lane that you must wait to make your turn. THese people turning however fill up the street you are turning onto leaving you no way to turn onto the street.
I think that what you described is legal. IIRC, gridlock is defined as entering an intersection without adequate space to exit the intersection. In the scenario you describe, there does exist adequate space when you enter the intersection.
(Standard disclaimer about legal advice)
In any event, I don’t think you’d be blocking traffic - the cars that you’d be blocking have no business entering the intersection since by hypothesis, there’s no way for them to exit.
I would also point out that at the busiest intersections in Manhattan, left turns are generally prohibited from two-way streets onto one-way streets. Thus, the scenario you describe isn’t likely to come up too much.