Gridlock

My rights are more important than your rights…

I have the misfortune to travel several times a week through a section of traffic gridlock. Sure, the unending road construction has closed one of the two lanes for the entire summer (and likely will continue for quite some time), but drivers don’t have to block the traffic.

But they do nearly every day that I happen to travel through that section.
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If you can’t get out of the way

That is of course the rule of law in most parts – if you can’t leave the intersection, you don’t get to enter it.

This prevents you (and your car) from hanging out in the middle of the intersection, blocking other cars.

Running the red

One reaction to congestion is the line of cars that will turn left on the red light because that is the only time the traffic flow permits it.

This is generally caused by badly timed lights, higher traffic than road design limits, and the lack of left turn signals.

Drivers (perhaps rightfully, perhaps not) consider the changing of the light to be their only time to get through the intersection.

Of course, it is probably ill advised for the 4th car to do so…

The crowd

And so, when looking to simply drive through an intersection, a driver can “secure” the space in front of them by entering the intersection even if they cannot leave it.

But if everyone does that – no one gets to move at all.

(For a good description of gridlock, do consult this wikipedia article)

Excess

So the traffic at my light – they are all essentially turning left onto the main road, and when their light turns green, they file through and then fill up the intersection – sometimes with four or five cars backed into the intersection.

When the light changes, the other traffic is congested trying to get into and through the intersection, and the traffic on the main road must wait for the impatient drivers to clear as well.

I might have some sympathy for their plight if things didn’t move, but often their lane is completely empty – when the traffic on the main road is backed up two or three blocks…

I’ve gotten passed…

Apparently I have too much respect for traffic laws.

Sure, I’ll press and make my way through the traffic light if we’re not moving with some regularity.

But I guess I wasn’t moving fast enough for a driver behind me one day. They pulled out to my right to cut in front of me and turn left through the now red light. Apparently I was supposed to do that in front of them and had not…

I don’t see the need to be in that much of a rush…