Mr. Stamford
The Authoritative Blog on Stamford Connecticut
Don’t block the *&%$ing box, people!!
Author: jr21 Mar
There’s a poll today on stamfordadvocate.com asking “Should drivers face an infraction for blocking intersections?” Despite people’s driving habits, the poll is actually 81% in favor of enforcing this law.
It’s infuriating when people A) try to make it through an intersection when it’s IMPOSSIBLE for them to clear the intersection before the light changes, or B) honk at you when you make the intelligent choice NOT to attempt to do so.
The worst intersection I’ve found for this is when you try to make a left off of Washington Blvd. into the north side of the train station. Compounding the problem is that the lights aren’t synchronized; when you’re waiting to make the left and your light turns yellow, it’s still green for oncoming traffic, so you think that you have a second or two to make your left, but in reality, they’re still coming straight through!
On a related topic, the best intersection for risking your life is at Summer and North Streets. For some reason, more than at other traffic lights, people coming down Summer Street seem to think that yellow (and even red!) mean “Floor it and try to kill anyone who dares to go on green.”
What are everybody’s worst traffic gripes/dangers?
PS: HANG UP THE *^&*&*#*@%#^*#ING CELL PHONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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5 Responses for "Don’t block the *&%$ing box, people!!"
I hate driving in Stamford - haven’t had box problems there but I just hate the way the streets are laid out - a lot of nearby streets downtown look alike, the frontage roads and their turns alongside 95 are like some sort of poorly marked puzzle.
Its too bad because I just wont go there very often because of the driving even though I like a lot of restaurants there and the Target is closer than Norwalk.
[...] Mr. Stamford was all up in arms today about people ‘blocking the box’ - i.e., drivers who block intersections. I can’t say I blame him, it is annoying, especially the other side of the issue, which is people who honk to get you to cross an intersection even though you’d be blocking. [...]
For me, the worst place to see this during the evening rush hour, where Broad St and East Main St meet. Folks living in Glenbrook, Springdale, Darien, and New Canaan exit off I-95, come up East Main and want to make a left on Glenbrook Rd. The lights aren’t well-timed and invariably drivers will extend well past the left turn lane and often all the way back through the entire intersection with Broad St. If you know the width of the intersection you also know that it takes several block boxers to cut off the traffic.
This happens every single day. You can sometimes sneak by in the far right lane by maneuvering a wide angle around the cars, but it’s quite frustrating…
I’ll play devils advocate here. Blocking the box is the only way to make a left hand turn in most Stamford intersections. Nothings worse than getting stuck behind someone not willing to stick their nose out and end up missing an entire green cycle.
JT: I know you sometimes have to sneak into an intersection and gun it when you get an opening, but the problem that I can’t stand occurs when people enter the intersection when they have NO chance of making it through. The worst is when it’s the traffic perpendicular to you; cars end up in the middle of the intersection while your light is green!
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