What part of "Don't block the intersection" don't you understand?!

The city I live in probably isn’t known for its well designed roads. For example, at the intersection of Cason Ln. and River Rock has a stoplight, and then 100 feet away (maybe not even that) is another stop light. This means that nine times out of ten, you can’t clear the intersection, and usually have to stop at the line, even though the light is green. That is, unless you’re a selfish asshole, in which case, you can ignore the sign conveniently placed by the stoplight saying “DO NOT BLOCK INTERSECTION.” That’s probably just a suggestion, anyway. Besides, surely the light won’t change red before the other light changes green, right? Oh wait, no that happens alot because the lights aren’t synchronized right. So there you are, stuck in the middle of the intersection, trying not to look over at the car whose way you are blocking, because you know they’ll probably have a finger they desperately want to show you, if only you’d look. It REALLY doesn’t help that the people whose way you are blocking only have a green light period of about 5 seconds to go, so waiting on your ass to move is probably out of the question. But that’s okay, because they can wait another 5 minutes for the next green light to change.

This rant brought to you by the fact that my girlfriend and I sat at the intersection for 10 minutes and 2 light changes because people don’t understand the fact that you AREN’T SUPPOSED to BLOCK the INTERSECTION. What’s even worse is when you’re stopped at the green light trying desperately not to block the intersection, assholes behind you are honking for you to go because they want to be even bigger assholes and block the intersection.

(Hopefully this is mild enough for MPSIMS. Although I suppose I could throw in a few mentions of SUVs to make it pitworthy :wink: )

Former Chicago resident here. I always thought that, if I were a Chicago cop looking to issue my quota of traffic tickets (if there are quotas), I would simply patrol, on foot, North Avenue between the Kennedy Expressway and…say…Halsted (maybe even a little further east). They might as well not have traffic lights, the patterns get so disrupted by people who don’t know how to keep an intersection clear.

When you combine that with the semis that get stuck under the railroad overpass between Elston and the Kennedy, it’s one of the most nightmarish intersections I know of.

But, yeah, a great many drivers are assholes about this.

Electronic Chaos do I ever know your intersection! It seems to me that only one out 25 people are aware that they are blocking the intersection, despite the fact they probably use that road every freaking day.

How about Broad and Old Fort Parkway/Memorial? My dad used to tell me that traffic engineering students used to use that intersection as a learning tool on how not to plan an intersection. I have learned several alternate routes to avoid that intersection like the plague. Plans are in the works to build an overpass, but those plans have been around for many years so I am not holding my breath.

Let me introduce you to Brick Township, NJ.

Geographically, quite a small town. And we have eighty-fricking-thousand year-round residents. The town, in more ways than one, is quite dense.

Now, let me introduce you to the intersection of Route 70 and Brick Boulevard.

Necessary Visual Aid

The red line represents the path that I travel quite a bit. As you approach the intersection (1), the road splits into two lanes. By the time you get to the intersection, you had better be in the left-hand lane, or you’re not going anywhere. Why is this? Because of the other intersection (2). You see, the green line represents the 2-3 lanes of traffic that back up all the way the fuck back to intersection (1).

Invariably, there will be some people approaching intersection (1) via the pink route who, for some unknown reason, decided to undergo radical surgery in which they replaced their brains with months-old Kal-Kan dog food. These people pull right the fuck into the middle of intersection (1), even though traffic is backed up all the way to intersection (2). And there they stay. There’s no way around it. If you pull into intersection (1) thinking that that green line of traffic will move before the light turns red, you’re 100% wrong.

So, as you sit at the red-route portion of the light, if you’re in the right lane when the light turns green, guess where you’re going? Abso-fucking-lutely nowhere. You will sit there, slamming on your horn while Kal-Kan-Brain sits in his '88 LeBaron pretends he’s fiddling with the radio rather than acknowledge the fact that he’s stuck in the middle of an intersection, completely blocking your ass. He will not be able to pull forward until the light has changed once again, and then the cycle will start anew.

I’ve know people who have had to sit through four cycles of the light before being able to go.

Which is why my heart was warmed this past weekend when I happens to be going through town via the pink-to-green route. I got to the intersection (1) and had to stop at the green light. After all, I could not go forward without blocking the intersection, and I had no Kal-Kan.

And the light turned red.

And those with Kal-Kan blocked the intersection.

And the cop who was standing next to the intersection walked into the middle of it, knocked on the window of each of the Kal-Kan people, and told them to pull off to the nearby side street (3). There, they were greeted by a fleet of police cruisers, all happily spending their day writing out reams and reams of tickets to all the Kal-Kan folks.

About fricking time. :slight_smile:

We have a similar effect here with the intersection of I-395 and Eads Street.

visual aid courtesy Google

That partial cloverleaf in the middle is where 395 and US 1 split. Just to the west of that is Eads Street, which is the second-to-last onramp into DC; four-block backups are common during the morning rush but fortuantely most drivers know not to block those intersections. The real problem is the intersection of Eads & Army-Navy (Army-Navy Drive is the 4-lane south of 395), some days reminds me of the New Yorker cartoon with multilane highway traffic squeezing under an old two-lane bridge. Other days it’s pretty smooth except for some “special” drivers who decide to take advantage of the nearly-empty right-hand lane and turn left in front of the line of cars that have been waiting for three to 4 blocks. Every so often there will be state troopers parked between Army-Navy and the onramp watching for drivers who try bypass the line of cars.

What none of these drivers seem to realize is that they can head two blocks south and bypass the whole mess by taking US 1 in, which flows smoothly nearly every single day!

While I agree that it’s probably one of the most congested intersections in town, I can’t exactly figure out why it is. Is it just that it’s an intersection between two major roads?

Yes, sheer volume of traffic is the biggest problem, leading to people taking a chance that they will get through the left turn arrow before it turns red because they don’t want to wait through another cycle. The intersection is quite wide and it takes longer to get through than most people think. The police have this intersection already drawn up (like a template) ready to just draw in the cars when the wrecks happen. The wrecks always happen.

This is why you should always keep Snyders of Hanover Jalapeño Pieces in your car.

I know that intersection…and I know the one at Old Fort Pkwy & Broad also. I lived in the 'boro for a time, before moving into Nashville (and then on to several other places since).

I’m quite sorry.