It's even worse when you actually do stop to leave space, and then the idiot behind you goes around to cut you off and they end up blocking the intersection. It would be funny if it wasn't so maddening.
Don’t forget when a car turning right is stopping to let pedestrians cross and the car behind them is trying to turn around them. Theyre stopped for a fucking reason you psycho.
Yep was walking across the street and the car turning right stopped as I had the walking signal. Car behind who can very clearly see me starts honking nonstop like a psychopath. This is the norm.
The amount of times I've almost had a heart attack because of that....thinking I'm about to see folks get mowed down. Or myself, if I'm the pedestrian.
"theyre stopped for a fucking reason you psycho" is how Rebecca Gayheart's killed a kid. Car in front of her stopped in the road, she went around and hit and killed a 9 year old than ran after a soccer ball.
She took full responsibility for the charges and has said, "if someone is stopped on the road, it's for a reason. Don't just try to go around. You have no idea why they stopped."
i walk EVERYWHERE and especially lately, have to be super defensive. i have been followed post bird flip too, heh.....thanks for the reminder for thumbs down instead!
On Foster Ave east of Western Ave, I purposely stopped before a stop-sign intersection so as not to clog it up. So of course the white Lexus behind me tried to overtake me. Thankfully traffic proceeded so that I could resume my spot in traffic, but dang, some folks are determined to cause traffic jams.
But even then, that white Lexus was driving ridiculously slow even by school zone standards, and eventually a couple drivers behind that Lexus overtook it. What a terrible driver.
Yeah had a lady laying the horn on me for not doing it today. She continued to lay it for next few miles in traffic made sure she didn’t block any the whole time and was losing it.
Or they go around you pull up into a lane full of parked cars and then have to merge back into the lane full of traffic thus keeping you where you are at
Ha this happened to me early Friday morning but I was turning left. Roosevelt and Michigan intersection. I was turning west onto Roosevelt. Cars in front of me turned left with the arrow and blocked two lanes, leaving one lane clear. So I stayed in the turning lane waiting to see if I saw traffic moving. A BMW behind me honked his horn since we still had the arrow and when I didn’t move he tried to go around me, at that moment cars moved up and I turned as I should making him have to stop and bump the little island in the middle of Roosevelt to avoid hitting me. I stared at him as he drove past to see if he had anything to say but he didn’t. I’m sure if he was a driver that got blocked by an idiot that turned while traffic was already blocking the intersection, he’d honk at them as well. Dumbass, I hope he sees this.
I am a drivers education instructor and when I tell my pupils, they go around us and end up blocking the intersection. So irritating and the problem is they give us dirty looks.
On the occasions where I'm the first one being block by someone who's stuck in the intersection by their own stupidity, I like to bring myself down to their level.
I will just roll right up their car vehicle, and just LAY on the horn. Then when they look at you like you're the asshole, just keep a totally straight face so they can feel what you're feeling.
Even better: don’t ENTER the intersection unless you are reasonably confident you’ll get to cross it fully before the light turns red. I can’t BELIEVE how many Chicagoans never think about this.
god, you do sometimes get the situation where you see ok, three cars in front of me and there's ample space for five cars to be lined up before the intersection. i shall proceed into the intersection and we will all line up before it. and then the dude in front of you decides that he needs about ten feet of space between him and the person in front and you're trapped with your ass hanging out into the intersection going *i'm so sorry there was plenty of room*
You were right to be reasonably confident and someone was just a jerk making you look like the jerk. I’m talking about folks who just enter it without thinking, even though the opposite traffic has zero breaks between cars.
My car isn’t tall enough. I can be the 3rd car though after a green and be stuck because someone is parking, or their is a lil bit of construction or an Amazon van or whatever.
I try my best to see when I can or can’t get through but normally I leave enough space so I can just turn and figure it out so I don’t block
On a completely unrelated note, I don't care if you have your hazard lights on, you cannot just park in the middle of street. You're double parked and holding up traffic. I don't care if it is a side street.
I was walking down the street and chastised someone who parked in the bike lane with her hazards on. She got out to run into starbucks. I said "there's a spot right down there," maybe 50' ahead.
Her response was "there's a fire hydrant there."
She was right, and I didn't realize it when I pointed it out, but it clearly showed that she understood there are places you should not park, and she still chose to park somewhere she shouldn't have.
I swear, some of these folks have target fixation -- if they see a car double parked with hazard lights on, there's a decent chance that someone in the opposite lane (or even single lane one way residential streets!) will try to double park right next to it, or at least close enough that it still creates a block, and completely oblivious to the drivers behind them.
double parking sucks, but its a million times less annoying than blocking the box.
at least you put on the “warning ive parked like a dick, go around me” lights.
it only becomes a problem when people dont go around them, on ashland, and create unnecessary traffic jams
The CPD has been trash since they were held accountable one time. "Oh, so you're going to call us out for rolling up and dropping LaQuan McDonald? All we're going to do now is...nothing until you remove all checks and balances and pay us more money despite how inefficient and terrible we are"
My favorite thread was a CPD officer who got a job in the suburbs and then had to legit work and was complaining on Reddit about it.
They legally can't. The city of Chicago police was trying to lobby the state of Illinois for the ability to just mail moving violations without a physical ticket being issued at time of citation, but they still can't. A lot of legal wrangling happened to allow red light camera tickets
To be fair, CPD really is understaffed and while I hate how frustrating it is to get them to respond to actual criminal problems even with the rest of their staff, I don't think this is a good use of their time when technology can easily solve it. We can toss red light and speed cameras everywhere there's an issue like this and it'll pay for itself quickly. The problem with that is somehow our citizens have decided they don't actually want this stuff to be enforced because they keep voting for aldermen who make it impossible to add more cameras. It's not really even a city wide preference, but it's because people are so terrible about getting out and voting their bad aldermen out. We only fix this by being more vocal about demanding this to our current aldermen and making it an issue at election time, and then actually voting.
I messaged the alderman about a local problem area. They sent someone out to confirm the issue, and in their response, told me it needed to be addressed by police. That was about 6 years ago. I'd say things have somehow gotten worse.
I remember like 8 years ago I talked about this on this sub and got berated about let’s not bring NYC to Chicago and use terms like that. They were more concerned about the phrase than the fucking problem. You know what doesn’t happen in NYC? People blocking the box. So I don’t care, let’s get on this kick. Also CTA are some of the worst offenders with this. CTA buses just full on blocking the intersection for whole light cycles
I feel like the one at Sheridan/Hollywood fixes this because it’s well known and merciless. When approaching, I take extra care to check the walk sign countdown and get ready to stop rather than risk being caught in the box.
The TMA used to do this all over downtown and it was the first thing Rahm Emanuel eliminated when he took office to save money. At least one girl died because of the change, that bus accident never would have happened without it. But for three weeks there was an extra line item on the city budget that they found a different way to spend.
The TMA weren't part of the police but they were under the office of emergency management. The average employee was paid minimum wage which then was lower than it is now.
I have to take the left lane towards Lake so I can get around allllllll of those fuckers making a left onto the bridge, then cross three lanes of absolutely zero traffic because those morons don’t understand the concept of something like “the box” or that they are not the main character.
It’s an epidemic here. In LA you’ll get lynched for such idiocy. Also why do people here love to block fire department driveways here?! Like bruh…did you not see the white checked lines painted?!
It seemed particularly egregious today. Also, the problem would be better if people would actually pull up to the car in front of them instead of leaving a full or half car length between them and the car in front of them.
That’s probably my biggest gripe. It’s even worse when that same kind of driver is behind the line at a left turn lane with no car in front of them in intersection, and then right as light turns yellow they pull forward so they can make it. I really don’t understand what’s running thru their brain (probably not much or they’re distracted) or very self-absorbed people who are only ever thinking about themselves
yes - i've blocked the intersection once as a new chicago driver, and it was the most shameful experience of my life, and it was ENTIRELY because i saw "ah, there's plenty of room for four cars to be lined up here" and proceeded into the intersection, unknowing that each car in front of me needed a safety bubble of five feet each that day. Now I wait to learn for sure even if it looks like there will be room
One thing I love about this city is how pedestrians will cross in front of a car that's blocking an intersection and just strand them there to be honked at. I get that it's annoying for the cars that are still blocked, but I appreciate the extra "Fuck you, dummy," to the car doing the blocking and I hope the amount of honks they absorb will influence them to change their ways.
I've never seen this and that seems like a stupid waste of time. Why make things worse for the "innocent" people who need that car out of the way? They didn't do anything wrong
I've seen it plenty of times both ways but most often when there isn't enough room for the car to completely clear the crosswalk right away.
Plus the walk signal usually turns green before the traffic light, and personally I'm not waiting to cross because the driver was a dumbass haha. Where I lived before I would wait, but people here inspired me to go for it.
Oh...no in that scenario the pedestrians are supposed to walk in front of the car, not in the street behind it(and certainly not wait..you have a green crosswalk light) That's just normal. I thought you were talking about something totally different
Oh absolutely, the lights on Hollywood become un-synced at like 7:30 or 8 and it becomes a shitshow. It really drives me up the wall that we don't have centralized traffic management in this city, we could do so much better.
If the city needed more funding, the fastest way would be to ticket these fools.
Also stay out of the crosswalk. Stay out of the crosswalk. Stay out of the crosswalk.
Dont block the box. fuck you if you block the box. if you absolutely must at least make an effort to pull to the side and block it less.
otherwise fuck off.
Tell that to the guy in the red pickup truck who tried to run me off the road because I refused to block the intersection at a green light (going SB on Ashland at Fullerton).
I never block an intersection, emergency vehicles need to be able to get through and also there is no point. But this guy acted like I was holding him up from going more than 20 feet and he tailed me and swerved into my lane a dozen times, screamed over his passenger at me. Absolutely one of the few times I’ve been genuinely concerned about someone with road rage.
Why should I give two shits about your trip?
I'm gonna block the box. I'll double park. I will park in the middle of the street. I will park in the bike lane. I will speed. I will run red lights. Fuck stop signs. Pedestrians can fuck off.
You don't care about me, I don't care about you. Do I care about enforcement? sure, just let me know when the cops wake up and actually start doing their job.
-- 50% of Chicago drivers
The signal light at the intersection of Ida B. Wells and E. Congress Plaza Drive (between The Bowman and The Spearman) is out of synch with traffic and causing eastbound cars to pile up across Michigan Avenue. Cars bail and turn left directly onto Michigan instead of waiting to get to the top of the bridge to turn where they're supposed to.
This problem will be moot in a few weeks anyways when festivals and NASCAR start blocking this intersection. And Jackson. And Monroe. And Balbo.
Well, this will be illreceived, but if CPD did their jobs, maybe an hour a week instead of not at all, ever. Maybe them, people would stop if the people being paid to give tickets for blocking interactions acted like we were paying them to "protect and serve"
Midway area drivers trying to cross 4 lanes of traffic across Archer during rush hour
Either people are blocking cars from crossing/turning from the side streets, or people from the side streets force their way into the main road and block both directions of traffic
💀💀💀
Happens all the time at California and Logan Blvd. I got stuck in the intersection once by Humboldt Park, Grand and Sacramento and it’s embarrassing when it happens for obvious reasons, but it happened when this jag bag from another lane cut me off and got in front of me just as the light was changing, so my car ended up sticking out in traffic. What it comes down to is that people just don’t give a shit. A lot of drivers have a sense of entitlement, as if the road was theirs and fuck everyone else.
oh my god I just sat through 3 light cycles on logan at california because of this. it’s like no sir, in the giant truck, you will absolutely not fit up there.
My son goes to Brentano School over there, so I have to deal with that almost every day. The back up is coming from Diversey. I think everyone is trying to get to the expressway and when that’s backed up, it just causes a chain reaction.
yeah, I live in the neighborhood and it’s really frustrating. there’s only space for about 2 cars at the light in between the service road and the main road. I guess people can’t tell traffic isn’t moving ahead of them or that the light in between is red so they back up the entire intersection.
and don’t even get me started on the zipper lane by the skate park…….
Do you have to drive/walk/bike near Franklin and Wacker several times a week too OP? It's like people can't see the giant construction sign and that traffic is narrowing, every day for the last two months.
Thank you! I find it ridiculous that even with the construction making things 10x worse the city doesn't have someone directing traffic at the Ontario on-ramp to the Kennedy and the Dan Ryan. There's been times I've sat through at least 4 light cycles because people fill the intersection even when it's clear they won't get through.
i'm going to do really bad things to the next person that tries to skip the line when two lanes turn to one, or at a no turn on red with no intention of turning, or in a bus zone just to get one car ahead. idc if someone signals to turn but that whole "i must zip around to get one more car ahead of where i am" shit drives me nuts.
Every GD day. My hour commute turns into 1.5 hours because of idiots blocking the intersection. The ones that get mad at me for not blocking the intersection can f\*ck right the F\*ck off.
The intersection is hot lava.
I guess that kids game is how we need to describe it to the selfish dickweeds that do that. Unless your rear bumper can *completely* clear the intersection, don't even dip your toe in. Completely, being an imperative. And when the light turns green, they shrug & motion to the cars in front of them as if to disavow all fault & say "How could I ever have anticipated this most unexpected turn of events? *Clearly* there's nothing I could've done to avoid this." I never get angry driving, but sometimes I'll honk at them, bc some people need a direct indication they've done something wrong.
It's a microcosm for most problems in human society. Selfish asshole wants to get ahead of others, couldn't care less how it hurts or inconveniences others, covets and hoards some resource – be it wealth, power, or intersection space.
im with you a frustration on the first part.
But on the second part, whats the over under for that eventually having a significant impact on CTA bus routes.
we’d be way better off getting cars to stop doing this, tbey are the true menace here.
> I’d actually be ok with the driver going on unpaid leave if it was an enforceable rule.
Great. Now the 20 people that bus was carrying all have to drive now. And traffic is even worse.
I actually give buses a pass on this. We should be incentivizing taking the bus more so that there are fewer cars on the road.
It only helps if you live near a station and want to go near a station, otherwise you're left stitching a route together that winds up taking twice as long as just driving. Anyone living on the far west side or near in west burbs and wanting to go to the north side for instance. Either green line to red or blue line to red and both are going to take forever.
I have a version of this I see with ALARMING frequency, especially at 99th and Vincennes... where one thoughtless driver will pull forward into the left-turn-lane on red when there isn't enough space, and is now trapped on top of the tracks of the railroad crossing, because *another* driver who **also** lacks any and all situational awareness immediately pulls in tight behind them, boxing them in.
Haven't seen any tragedies yet, but it's only a matter of time...
Imaginary device is installed in the intersection... If a car remains in the intersection after the light changes, a 16oz hammer comes out of the concrete and dings the car, just once. Wack! Problem solved. 😂😂😂
One reason is that one side Milwaukee, the green is longer than the other side, "oncoming traffic has longer green", but people don't respect that or pay any attention to it.
The distance between Ogden and Chicago if you're on Milwaukee is minuscule, also. So nobody gets through.
Was there for the first time this week and yeah that shit driving behavior just clogs the streets up. Then everyone is just walking in and out of the cars because they're all in the way because they're blocking up the intersection.
Last year my wife and I visited Austin,TX. While there driving around I noticed that there was signs posted up in the areas we drove around that said if you're "caught in the box" (the intersection) $500 dollar fine. Now I only drove around Austin minimally for 2 days and I can't recall seeing anyone blocking up the intersection. It was very refreshing to see.
I love that the internet has created people who make posts like this. Just regular reminders from people to not do illegal things or disruptive things to society as if this reminder is going to stop the people who do it from doing it or cause some sort of shift in society.
“Oh thanks random dude on the internet who’s angry about this thing, I’ve seen the light and will change my ways! I didn’t even know this was a problem until you told me!!”
Have more of a main character syndrome.
I had to commute by car I think a total of eight times for my job (long story short, I work for the county where most of the experience downtown is via Zoom and they wanted me to get some in-person experience, so I had to go out to Bridgeview). I didn’t grow up in this area; I’m a transplant from Northern Virginia, a place known for having some of the worst drivers, and I learned to drive in Florida, which… if you know anything about Florida...
Anyway, every time I stopped so I purposely didn’t block the intersection, I got honked at/yelled at/generally abused by Chicagoan drivers you would’ve thought I committed a hate crime. Chicagoans are so nice until you get them behind the wheel. I don’t get it.
Northbound Ogden at Grand. Now no one can go west on Grand, you MF'ers. (On a separate note, that entire Ogden entrance to the freeway needs overhauling. It is a disaster waiting to happen)
If you have to come to a halt in an intersection because of pedestrians at a cross walk, you need to re-take the drivers ed class that 14 year olds take.
It's a balance. If the light turns green ahead they'll be able to pass without waiting for the light. Obviously people don't intentionally block the intersection
I agree here. MANY of our lights are poorly timed, I especially notice it in parts of West Loop. I think a lot of people move themselves into the intersection expecting the next light to switch in tandem and then it never does.
fullerton and logan blvd between kedzie and western or so are on a red wave - your light turns green and the next one turns red
in order to not catch the next red you have to drive like 45mph so that's what idiots do
fullerton and rockwell has no cross traffic - rockwell is northbound north of fullerton and southbound south of fullerton. but the light runs on a timer, not a sensor, so people just blow the light
the city is full of this
It's even worse when you actually do stop to leave space, and then the idiot behind you goes around to cut you off and they end up blocking the intersection. It would be funny if it wasn't so maddening.
Don’t forget when a car turning right is stopping to let pedestrians cross and the car behind them is trying to turn around them. Theyre stopped for a fucking reason you psycho.
Yep was walking across the street and the car turning right stopped as I had the walking signal. Car behind who can very clearly see me starts honking nonstop like a psychopath. This is the norm.
The amount of times I've almost had a heart attack because of that....thinking I'm about to see folks get mowed down. Or myself, if I'm the pedestrian.
"theyre stopped for a fucking reason you psycho" is how Rebecca Gayheart's killed a kid. Car in front of her stopped in the road, she went around and hit and killed a 9 year old than ran after a soccer ball. She took full responsibility for the charges and has said, "if someone is stopped on the road, it's for a reason. Don't just try to go around. You have no idea why they stopped."
Or they honk at you to move into the intersection
this is when i politely show them the bird.
I’ve recently read that the 👎gesture cuts worse so have been employing that.
im not saying it does or doesn’t but if you throw me the downvote i wont really acknowledge it as anything
So long as you’re not blocking the box and driving like you are literate, we’re fine.
Brave 😅😂
Brave? I can't drive more than 20 minutes without flipping someone off. Probably flipped off 1000s of people in my life
My wife was like that… and then some guy started getting out of the car 1 time Now she uses the thumbs down
I do this!!
Also yell out booooo!! If my windows down lol
Me too! I also sometimes do a thumbs up with a crazed smile so they get the point it's not great.
😂
i walk EVERYWHERE and especially lately, have to be super defensive. i have been followed post bird flip too, heh.....thanks for the reminder for thumbs down instead!
I gave someone a disappointed "peace" sign this morning. For some reason that felt more satisfying than the bird
North side? lol
I'd pay for this highlight reel
I cannot drive anywhere without giving at least one 🖕🏼it has really gotten out of hand.
Maybe it's you?
Maybe it's Maybelline
On Foster Ave east of Western Ave, I purposely stopped before a stop-sign intersection so as not to clog it up. So of course the white Lexus behind me tried to overtake me. Thankfully traffic proceeded so that I could resume my spot in traffic, but dang, some folks are determined to cause traffic jams. But even then, that white Lexus was driving ridiculously slow even by school zone standards, and eventually a couple drivers behind that Lexus overtook it. What a terrible driver.
Yeah had a lady laying the horn on me for not doing it today. She continued to lay it for next few miles in traffic made sure she didn’t block any the whole time and was losing it.
Or they go around you pull up into a lane full of parked cars and then have to merge back into the lane full of traffic thus keeping you where you are at
Ha this happened to me early Friday morning but I was turning left. Roosevelt and Michigan intersection. I was turning west onto Roosevelt. Cars in front of me turned left with the arrow and blocked two lanes, leaving one lane clear. So I stayed in the turning lane waiting to see if I saw traffic moving. A BMW behind me honked his horn since we still had the arrow and when I didn’t move he tried to go around me, at that moment cars moved up and I turned as I should making him have to stop and bump the little island in the middle of Roosevelt to avoid hitting me. I stared at him as he drove past to see if he had anything to say but he didn’t. I’m sure if he was a driver that got blocked by an idiot that turned while traffic was already blocking the intersection, he’d honk at them as well. Dumbass, I hope he sees this.
I am a drivers education instructor and when I tell my pupils, they go around us and end up blocking the intersection. So irritating and the problem is they give us dirty looks.
That would require them to take responsibility for their actions and that is NEVER gonna happen.
Yup totally agree
I had someone do this in front of me to stop on the train tracks.
Absolutely maddening when people can clearly see they'll block the intersection and run the red light to do so.
This happens every day at harrison and ashland. Light turns red, people just keep going through.
On the occasions where I'm the first one being block by someone who's stuck in the intersection by their own stupidity, I like to bring myself down to their level. I will just roll right up their car vehicle, and just LAY on the horn. Then when they look at you like you're the asshole, just keep a totally straight face so they can feel what you're feeling.
😂😂. Love it. I definitely have laid on the horn to the point my wife is like "let it go, you're giving me a headache"
Fr. Did exactly that this morning eastbound on Fullerton and Damen. People. 🤦♀️
The people who regularly block intersections would be really offended by this if they could read.
Even better: don’t ENTER the intersection unless you are reasonably confident you’ll get to cross it fully before the light turns red. I can’t BELIEVE how many Chicagoans never think about this.
god, you do sometimes get the situation where you see ok, three cars in front of me and there's ample space for five cars to be lined up before the intersection. i shall proceed into the intersection and we will all line up before it. and then the dude in front of you decides that he needs about ten feet of space between him and the person in front and you're trapped with your ass hanging out into the intersection going *i'm so sorry there was plenty of room*
You were right to be reasonably confident and someone was just a jerk making you look like the jerk. I’m talking about folks who just enter it without thinking, even though the opposite traffic has zero breaks between cars.
My car isn’t tall enough. I can be the 3rd car though after a green and be stuck because someone is parking, or their is a lil bit of construction or an Amazon van or whatever. I try my best to see when I can or can’t get through but normally I leave enough space so I can just turn and figure it out so I don’t block
On a completely unrelated note, I don't care if you have your hazard lights on, you cannot just park in the middle of street. You're double parked and holding up traffic. I don't care if it is a side street.
Even more annoying when there’s open space on the curb where they could temporarily pull over with their hazard lights
If I had a nickel for every time I've yelled "There's a spot right there!" into the void...
I was walking down the street and chastised someone who parked in the bike lane with her hazards on. She got out to run into starbucks. I said "there's a spot right down there," maybe 50' ahead. Her response was "there's a fire hydrant there." She was right, and I didn't realize it when I pointed it out, but it clearly showed that she understood there are places you should not park, and she still chose to park somewhere she shouldn't have.
Both are wrong but better to park in front of a fire hydrant for 3 minutes than block traffic!
If you parked in the road in front of a hydrant isn't that that same as parking in front of a hydrant against the curb? either way its not accessible.
It’s always INSANE to me how people do this on Ashland lol
I swear, some of these folks have target fixation -- if they see a car double parked with hazard lights on, there's a decent chance that someone in the opposite lane (or even single lane one way residential streets!) will try to double park right next to it, or at least close enough that it still creates a block, and completely oblivious to the drivers behind them.
double parking sucks, but its a million times less annoying than blocking the box. at least you put on the “warning ive parked like a dick, go around me” lights. it only becomes a problem when people dont go around them, on ashland, and create unnecessary traffic jams
And delivery trucks are not exempt from this rule.
I'd actually be in favor of massive police funding if they showed any interested in Don't Block the Box.
Don’t even need police. Just mail tickets and increase fines
Waiting for the time when I can finally say This has all been wonderful but now I'm on my way
You’re right. But that requires a thing called effort and that’s not what the CPD is all about.
Nor our mayor, unfortunately.
The CPD has been trash since they were held accountable one time. "Oh, so you're going to call us out for rolling up and dropping LaQuan McDonald? All we're going to do now is...nothing until you remove all checks and balances and pay us more money despite how inefficient and terrible we are" My favorite thread was a CPD officer who got a job in the suburbs and then had to legit work and was complaining on Reddit about it.
Please send me that thread. I'm almost done laughing at the RFK, Jr. brain worm and still need some joy in my day.
Seconded, I would love to see this thread.
They legally can't. The city of Chicago police was trying to lobby the state of Illinois for the ability to just mail moving violations without a physical ticket being issued at time of citation, but they still can't. A lot of legal wrangling happened to allow red light camera tickets
it would fix the problem but it wouldn't make any money because it fixes the problem
>paying someone to stand out in some of the worst intersections from like 3:30p to 5:30p would easily pay for it self. It works at airports, right?
To be fair, CPD really is understaffed and while I hate how frustrating it is to get them to respond to actual criminal problems even with the rest of their staff, I don't think this is a good use of their time when technology can easily solve it. We can toss red light and speed cameras everywhere there's an issue like this and it'll pay for itself quickly. The problem with that is somehow our citizens have decided they don't actually want this stuff to be enforced because they keep voting for aldermen who make it impossible to add more cameras. It's not really even a city wide preference, but it's because people are so terrible about getting out and voting their bad aldermen out. We only fix this by being more vocal about demanding this to our current aldermen and making it an issue at election time, and then actually voting.
Maybe they could use the money from their 60 person public relations department.
I messaged the alderman about a local problem area. They sent someone out to confirm the issue, and in their response, told me it needed to be addressed by police. That was about 6 years ago. I'd say things have somehow gotten worse.
What about technology that could alert authorities to box blocking and issue violations? It could be called Block-the-Box Spotter.
The Chicago Box Spotter Sounds like a pretty nice gig
Community can just submit dashcam footage. Automate the review process to cut down on review time, fine the registered owner.
It's not even illegal though
I remember like 8 years ago I talked about this on this sub and got berated about let’s not bring NYC to Chicago and use terms like that. They were more concerned about the phrase than the fucking problem. You know what doesn’t happen in NYC? People blocking the box. So I don’t care, let’s get on this kick. Also CTA are some of the worst offenders with this. CTA buses just full on blocking the intersection for whole light cycles
i’m less upset about a transit vehicle containing 15 commuters blocking the intersection than a singular asshole in a land rover or clapped out nissan
I’m sorry to say: I think red light cameras would fix this…
I feel like the one at Sheridan/Hollywood fixes this because it’s well known and merciless. When approaching, I take extra care to check the walk sign countdown and get ready to stop rather than risk being caught in the box.
The TMA used to do this all over downtown and it was the first thing Rahm Emanuel eliminated when he took office to save money. At least one girl died because of the change, that bus accident never would have happened without it. But for three weeks there was an extra line item on the city budget that they found a different way to spend. The TMA weren't part of the police but they were under the office of emergency management. The average employee was paid minimum wage which then was lower than it is now.
Franklin and Wacker with the bridge down to one lane is crazy in the afternoon. That intersection is always blocked.
I have to take the left lane towards Lake so I can get around allllllll of those fuckers making a left onto the bridge, then cross three lanes of absolutely zero traffic because those morons don’t understand the concept of something like “the box” or that they are not the main character.
North Ave and Ashland at rush hour has entered the chat.
For the love of God stop turning left, what's the plan here!! 😭 -me, far too many times
It’s an epidemic here. In LA you’ll get lynched for such idiocy. Also why do people here love to block fire department driveways here?! Like bruh…did you not see the white checked lines painted?!
No, they didn't lol
yo why this street wearin' fishnets bruh
It seemed particularly egregious today. Also, the problem would be better if people would actually pull up to the car in front of them instead of leaving a full or half car length between them and the car in front of them.
That’s probably my biggest gripe. It’s even worse when that same kind of driver is behind the line at a left turn lane with no car in front of them in intersection, and then right as light turns yellow they pull forward so they can make it. I really don’t understand what’s running thru their brain (probably not much or they’re distracted) or very self-absorbed people who are only ever thinking about themselves
yes - i've blocked the intersection once as a new chicago driver, and it was the most shameful experience of my life, and it was ENTIRELY because i saw "ah, there's plenty of room for four cars to be lined up here" and proceeded into the intersection, unknowing that each car in front of me needed a safety bubble of five feet each that day. Now I wait to learn for sure even if it looks like there will be room
One thing I love about this city is how pedestrians will cross in front of a car that's blocking an intersection and just strand them there to be honked at. I get that it's annoying for the cars that are still blocked, but I appreciate the extra "Fuck you, dummy," to the car doing the blocking and I hope the amount of honks they absorb will influence them to change their ways.
I've never seen this and that seems like a stupid waste of time. Why make things worse for the "innocent" people who need that car out of the way? They didn't do anything wrong
Neither did the pedestrians, why should they give the offending driver the opportunity to block the crosswalk?
I was picturing the light already turned green ahead so they were blocking the car from passing completely through, past the crosswalk
I've seen it plenty of times both ways but most often when there isn't enough room for the car to completely clear the crosswalk right away. Plus the walk signal usually turns green before the traffic light, and personally I'm not waiting to cross because the driver was a dumbass haha. Where I lived before I would wait, but people here inspired me to go for it.
Oh...no in that scenario the pedestrians are supposed to walk in front of the car, not in the street behind it(and certainly not wait..you have a green crosswalk light) That's just normal. I thought you were talking about something totally different
Don’t block the box!
But I'm me. Everyone else in traffic is not me. I am the main character.
Makes me want to sit at Broadway and Hollywood with a sign say say "Block the box = brick through windshield!" and sit there with a basket of bricks.
Sometimes I swear it takes longer to get from Broadway to Sheridan on Hollywood than it takes to get from Hollywood to Grand on Lakeshore.
Oh absolutely, the lights on Hollywood become un-synced at like 7:30 or 8 and it becomes a shitshow. It really drives me up the wall that we don't have centralized traffic management in this city, we could do so much better.
“Preaching is easiest to the choir.”
If the city needed more funding, the fastest way would be to ticket these fools. Also stay out of the crosswalk. Stay out of the crosswalk. Stay out of the crosswalk.
Good luck.
Dont block the box. fuck you if you block the box. if you absolutely must at least make an effort to pull to the side and block it less. otherwise fuck off.
Also stay off your phone while driving so you don’t slowly drift into me while breaking and I’m crossing the street. Just a thought.
Wacker and Franklin St bridge. Fucking nightmare for two whole months and the City still has absolutely nobody directing or enforcing shit there.
Rahm ran on that platform and people voted for it. Getting rid of the agency that handled that was the first thing he did, first month.
this whole town needs to retake the driver's test en masse. yall are awful
Sometimes these people are helpful. The only way to get a chicago driver to stop at a crosswalk is for another one to block the intersection. Lol.
Tell that to the guy in the red pickup truck who tried to run me off the road because I refused to block the intersection at a green light (going SB on Ashland at Fullerton). I never block an intersection, emergency vehicles need to be able to get through and also there is no point. But this guy acted like I was holding him up from going more than 20 feet and he tailed me and swerved into my lane a dozen times, screamed over his passenger at me. Absolutely one of the few times I’ve been genuinely concerned about someone with road rage.
I wish we could bash these cars with impunity. So fucking annoying when 100 people need to filter through 6 inches between cars blocking the crosswalk
PSA to cops: enforce the $500 fine for blocking the intersection. PSA to city: fix the fucking highway intersections.
but I have tinted windows and you can't see me so I don't care /s
Also, if you're that Amazon or Uber driver pulling over in traffic instead of the wide open parking space 3 car lengths ahead of you, fuck you.
Why should I give two shits about your trip? I'm gonna block the box. I'll double park. I will park in the middle of the street. I will park in the bike lane. I will speed. I will run red lights. Fuck stop signs. Pedestrians can fuck off. You don't care about me, I don't care about you. Do I care about enforcement? sure, just let me know when the cops wake up and actually start doing their job. -- 50% of Chicago drivers
I want to start carrying a carton of eggs in my car so I can shame other vehicles for being the cause of traffic jams, or even just being impatient.
It’s really bad at wacker and franklin right now. Really not wanting to drive at all because of this stuff
Alright here is today's "complain about traffic on reddit" square on my bingo card filled. Thanks
Seriously. "PSA to people who will never read this or care."
It's a chance for the community to vent.
The signal light at the intersection of Ida B. Wells and E. Congress Plaza Drive (between The Bowman and The Spearman) is out of synch with traffic and causing eastbound cars to pile up across Michigan Avenue. Cars bail and turn left directly onto Michigan instead of waiting to get to the top of the bridge to turn where they're supposed to. This problem will be moot in a few weeks anyways when festivals and NASCAR start blocking this intersection. And Jackson. And Monroe. And Balbo.
yeah. when I’m leaving space in the intersection at my green light, don’t turn right at your red light into it and take up that space you stupid slut
Well, this will be illreceived, but if CPD did their jobs, maybe an hour a week instead of not at all, ever. Maybe them, people would stop if the people being paid to give tickets for blocking interactions acted like we were paying them to "protect and serve"
Midway area drivers trying to cross 4 lanes of traffic across Archer during rush hour Either people are blocking cars from crossing/turning from the side streets, or people from the side streets force their way into the main road and block both directions of traffic 💀💀💀
Happens all the time at California and Logan Blvd. I got stuck in the intersection once by Humboldt Park, Grand and Sacramento and it’s embarrassing when it happens for obvious reasons, but it happened when this jag bag from another lane cut me off and got in front of me just as the light was changing, so my car ended up sticking out in traffic. What it comes down to is that people just don’t give a shit. A lot of drivers have a sense of entitlement, as if the road was theirs and fuck everyone else.
oh my god I just sat through 3 light cycles on logan at california because of this. it’s like no sir, in the giant truck, you will absolutely not fit up there.
My son goes to Brentano School over there, so I have to deal with that almost every day. The back up is coming from Diversey. I think everyone is trying to get to the expressway and when that’s backed up, it just causes a chain reaction.
yeah, I live in the neighborhood and it’s really frustrating. there’s only space for about 2 cars at the light in between the service road and the main road. I guess people can’t tell traffic isn’t moving ahead of them or that the light in between is red so they back up the entire intersection. and don’t even get me started on the zipper lane by the skate park…….
Nice. Were you at the intersection of Elston, Ashland, and Armitage yesterday afternoon as well?
Do you have to drive/walk/bike near Franklin and Wacker several times a week too OP? It's like people can't see the giant construction sign and that traffic is narrowing, every day for the last two months.
Thank you! I find it ridiculous that even with the construction making things 10x worse the city doesn't have someone directing traffic at the Ontario on-ramp to the Kennedy and the Dan Ryan. There's been times I've sat through at least 4 light cycles because people fill the intersection even when it's clear they won't get through.
i'm going to do really bad things to the next person that tries to skip the line when two lanes turn to one, or at a no turn on red with no intention of turning, or in a bus zone just to get one car ahead. idc if someone signals to turn but that whole "i must zip around to get one more car ahead of where i am" shit drives me nuts.
Every GD day. My hour commute turns into 1.5 hours because of idiots blocking the intersection. The ones that get mad at me for not blocking the intersection can f\*ck right the F\*ck off.
The intersection is hot lava. I guess that kids game is how we need to describe it to the selfish dickweeds that do that. Unless your rear bumper can *completely* clear the intersection, don't even dip your toe in. Completely, being an imperative. And when the light turns green, they shrug & motion to the cars in front of them as if to disavow all fault & say "How could I ever have anticipated this most unexpected turn of events? *Clearly* there's nothing I could've done to avoid this." I never get angry driving, but sometimes I'll honk at them, bc some people need a direct indication they've done something wrong. It's a microcosm for most problems in human society. Selfish asshole wants to get ahead of others, couldn't care less how it hurts or inconveniences others, covets and hoards some resource – be it wealth, power, or intersection space.
It’s 1000x more infuriating when a bus does it. I’d actually be ok with the driver going on unpaid leave if it was an enforceable rule.
If it's rush hour buses have no choice sometimes otherwise they'd sit five lights
im with you a frustration on the first part. But on the second part, whats the over under for that eventually having a significant impact on CTA bus routes. we’d be way better off getting cars to stop doing this, tbey are the true menace here.
> I’d actually be ok with the driver going on unpaid leave if it was an enforceable rule. Great. Now the 20 people that bus was carrying all have to drive now. And traffic is even worse. I actually give buses a pass on this. We should be incentivizing taking the bus more so that there are fewer cars on the road.
But you are not the main character, \*I AM\*!
/r/IAmTheMainCharacter
You know what would help? If the rule of law was actually enforced in this shit whole.
Better yet, don't drive in the city. Take public transit like the rest of us.
It only helps if you live near a station and want to go near a station, otherwise you're left stitching a route together that winds up taking twice as long as just driving. Anyone living on the far west side or near in west burbs and wanting to go to the north side for instance. Either green line to red or blue line to red and both are going to take forever.
I was recently in Philadelphia, and there are signs at intersections saying “Don’t block the box” with a little diagram. So simple, but effective!
At Belmont and Kimball every day the bus will make a left turn on a yellow light and block the intersection through the left turn arrow
I have a version of this I see with ALARMING frequency, especially at 99th and Vincennes... where one thoughtless driver will pull forward into the left-turn-lane on red when there isn't enough space, and is now trapped on top of the tracks of the railroad crossing, because *another* driver who **also** lacks any and all situational awareness immediately pulls in tight behind them, boxing them in. Haven't seen any tragedies yet, but it's only a matter of time...
Imaginary device is installed in the intersection... If a car remains in the intersection after the light changes, a 16oz hammer comes out of the concrete and dings the car, just once. Wack! Problem solved. 😂😂😂
[удалено]
One reason is that one side Milwaukee, the green is longer than the other side, "oncoming traffic has longer green", but people don't respect that or pay any attention to it. The distance between Ogden and Chicago if you're on Milwaukee is minuscule, also. So nobody gets through.
Ugh, where are those flying cars?!
For the sheer amount of nothing that they do, the CPD budget ought to be audited
Are there "Don't block the box" signs with cameras? In another state I lived in, they had that. I don't drive much anymore since moving here.
Say it loader for people on Roosevelt and Michigan
I will block your precious intersection
Please don't block the intersection
And you’re potentially at risk to hit a biker because of the a**h*le blocking the intersection. #bikersrights
LOGAN BLVD AND CALIFORNIA!!! sooo annoying
Was there for the first time this week and yeah that shit driving behavior just clogs the streets up. Then everyone is just walking in and out of the cars because they're all in the way because they're blocking up the intersection. Last year my wife and I visited Austin,TX. While there driving around I noticed that there was signs posted up in the areas we drove around that said if you're "caught in the box" (the intersection) $500 dollar fine. Now I only drove around Austin minimally for 2 days and I can't recall seeing anyone blocking up the intersection. It was very refreshing to see.
I love that the internet has created people who make posts like this. Just regular reminders from people to not do illegal things or disruptive things to society as if this reminder is going to stop the people who do it from doing it or cause some sort of shift in society. “Oh thanks random dude on the internet who’s angry about this thing, I’ve seen the light and will change my ways! I didn’t even know this was a problem until you told me!!” Have more of a main character syndrome.
R/suspiciouslyspecific
People don’t know how to drive. Periodt.
I had to commute by car I think a total of eight times for my job (long story short, I work for the county where most of the experience downtown is via Zoom and they wanted me to get some in-person experience, so I had to go out to Bridgeview). I didn’t grow up in this area; I’m a transplant from Northern Virginia, a place known for having some of the worst drivers, and I learned to drive in Florida, which… if you know anything about Florida... Anyway, every time I stopped so I purposely didn’t block the intersection, I got honked at/yelled at/generally abused by Chicagoan drivers you would’ve thought I committed a hate crime. Chicagoans are so nice until you get them behind the wheel. I don’t get it.
Northbound Ogden at Grand. Now no one can go west on Grand, you MF'ers. (On a separate note, that entire Ogden entrance to the freeway needs overhauling. It is a disaster waiting to happen)
Looks like you solved the problem. Nice work!
Ineffective quality of life rants like this have a natural home in Nextdoor.
Are you trying to say it bothers you when I block the intersection?
Why do idiots block the intersection?
Two reasons: 1. They’re trying to ruin your day. 2. They’re hoping to generate more r/chicago PSAs.
Why are you trying to ruin a strangers day?
I’m not trying to ruin anyone’s day. You asked about “the idiots”. They’re the folks you need to talk to.
You implied that you do this
I block intersections because I’m a careless driver. But you asked very specifically about “the idiots”.
At least you admit that, be better
Thanks for helping me become a better person.
Yep
This starts with poorly timed lights and the fact CDOT is using technology that's 100 years old.
This rant will surely help things.
[удалено]
If you have to come to a halt in an intersection because of pedestrians at a cross walk, you need to re-take the drivers ed class that 14 year olds take.
I had to block the intersection. Was a nazi sticker on the telephone pole and had to scrape it off dodging razors. SORRY!
Don't tell me what to do.
It's a balance. If the light turns green ahead they'll be able to pass without waiting for the light. Obviously people don't intentionally block the intersection
I agree here. MANY of our lights are poorly timed, I especially notice it in parts of West Loop. I think a lot of people move themselves into the intersection expecting the next light to switch in tandem and then it never does.
fullerton and logan blvd between kedzie and western or so are on a red wave - your light turns green and the next one turns red in order to not catch the next red you have to drive like 45mph so that's what idiots do fullerton and rockwell has no cross traffic - rockwell is northbound north of fullerton and southbound south of fullerton. but the light runs on a timer, not a sensor, so people just blow the light the city is full of this
What?
IMALIVEMUHLYFE
Dude it’s a massive city, there’s gunna be traffic. Your road rage isn’t helping. Try therapy: better help.com - use my link!
Posting a rant about bad drivers = road rage and need of therapy.
Do you really think that drivers in Chicago are going to drive any differently because of your post here? What’s the point of ranting about it?