Rant: Blocking the box ticket (New York, Holland: home, bankrupt, live in) - City-Data Forum

Cyclops99 · 01-21-2010, 08:44 AM

Sorry but I just had to vent...I know many on the forum don't drive since you live in manhattan but if you're driving...watch out for this "blocking the box" ticket right after the Williamsburg bridge and probably many other spots in NYC. Traffic agents stand at certain intersections just waiting to give a ticket, they give them out at every light. It was an idea of the mayor to raise money for our bankrupt city...he changed it to a "parking violation" so traffic agents could give them out.

I generally do not drive to the city but had to pass through to get to Jersey via the Holland Tunnel. In anycase, there was heavy traffic and I cross the intersection while the light was green...the cars in front stopped moving...and I wasn't blocking the box...though my back bumper may have been over a portion of the crosswalk. A traffic agent, after the light turned red, immediately knocked on my window to give me a ticket. Another agent gave one to the car next to me. As I was pulled over on the side of the road and the light turned red again...the agents gave out more tickets.
The city must be making a killing...$115 times 4-5 cars in a min!

Irish Eyes · 01-21-2010, 09:02 AM

You can't have any part of your car in that box. If the intersection isn't clear on the other side of it, never drive into the box. Someone else posted on here that by the Holland Tunnel the agents wave people through the intersection into the box and then ticket them when the light changes. Be on the lookout for that.

Cyclops99 · 01-21-2010, 09:25 AM

No part of my car was on the box...theres the box, the crosswalk for pedestrians...and a few inches of the bumper may have been on the crosswalk. The blocking the box law was to stop gridlock but now they're just giving out tickets to make money. I would understand if I was blocking the intersection and cars couldn't get past me.

Queens2QueenCity · 01-22-2010, 10:03 PM

I feel your pain.I received one of those tickets visiting brooklyn during thanksgiving. Its a costly scam($115) as the brownies stand at the corner and ambush your car when the light turns red.The infuriating part is that the brownies by handing out the tickets actually impede the flow of traffic thus causing cars to be stuck in the intersection.I did beat the ticket by mail explaining those circumstances.I also found this site where others have been victimized by this money grab courtesy of mayor Mike.Some good info also.

NYC Parking Ticket: A "Blocking the Box" Solution

stillife · 01-23-2010, 05:40 AM

This happened to my boss a few months ago. I think it was on 96th Street. He, being a lawyer, wrote a letter to protest (there were extenuating circumstances such as those described by Queens2QueenCity). Didn't do any good, though.

Fred314X · 01-23-2010, 07:16 AM

I can't decide who whines more in this city--drivers or smokers. No matter how punitive the law may be (and I'll grant that our Mayor sets new standards in this department), if you weren't doing anything wrong in the first place, you wouldn't have a problem, would you?

The whole point is to make you think that you don't actually need a car to get around the city. When you realize that, the next thing you'll realize is that transit fare looks dirt cheap compared to what you spend on a car.

captne76 · 01-24-2010, 12:55 AM

That seems to be way out of line for the infraction and I would almost never voluntarily pay that. Myself not being registered or licensed in NYC I would most probably either toss that ticket or rip it into a 115 pieces and litter the GD city with it. Cars are a proper part of America. Maybe NYC might someday wake up and join the USA, until then it's a foreign land.

schiphol · 01-26-2010, 08:09 PM

I feel your pain, OP. But I must say, as a native New Yorker who has seen a lot of things and actually owned a car for a few months in NYC, people driving in the City do a lot of stupid things. Just because the light is green that doesn't mean you are entitled to go anywhere. If there is no room for your car ahead then you shouldn't move forward. You end up blocking the cross traffic and you end up getting a ticket. I once had some a-hole Jersey guy honking at me because I didn't budge at a green light with the intersection clear but bumper to bumper traffic past the light. And captne76, I just don't like your comment about NYC. You are entitled to your opinion and I'm not fighting you, but I just don't like it.

I love NYC to death. Anyway, tickets they give you that you don't pay can end up suspending your license and putting you in that national database; so it doesn't matter if you are licensed or registered in NYS or not. Anyway, if you feel that way about NYC try driving and owning a car in Miami. Glad I left that crap dump.

Henna · 01-26-2010, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captne76

That seems to be way out of line for the infraction and I would almost never voluntarily pay that. Myself not being registered or licensed in NYC I would most probably either toss that ticket or rip it into a 115 pieces and litter the GD city with it. Cars are a proper part of America. Maybe NYC might someday wake up and join the USA, until then it's a foreign land.

This is funny. You think they won't track you down and cause trouble for you in your home state? Much more trouble and bigger fines than you originally started out with? Think again.

And sometimes I wish the city would start giving out littering tickets-- I can't stand seeing people throw trash on the ground for no reason besides they are too lazy or uneducated to find a trashcan.

Cyclops99 · 01-27-2010, 08:05 AM

Quote:

If there is no room for your car ahead then you shouldn't move forward. You end up blocking the cross traffic and you end up getting a ticket

You're right, like I said...I understand what the intention of the law was: to stop people from obstructing traffic, I'm fine with that. But the mayor has changed it to a parking violation so that "brownies" can stand at busy intersection giving tickets at each light and raise money.
I was NOT blocking traffic, although I may have been few inches over the cross walk, not the BOX. If I didn't go, I'd never make it through with the cabbies cutting in the lanes and all that stuff. I don't think I was in violation according to the statute, it was my word against the brownies word...I lost...Guilty, paid the fine.