Box Junctions !

[tonyrec]

From experience i can say that the biggest cause of Traffic jams in the Capital is due to the fact that a large proportion of motorists either dont know/dont respect traffic flow at junctions and in particular, Box Junctions.
People must see it time and time again as i do and theres nothing more annoying than when you have been sitting in a long queue of traffic only to find that you have been there a lot longer because of a car (or cars) turning right where they shouldnt or people are stationary in a junction having encroached toooo far into the junction and then caught in no mans land when the lights eventually do change..

If i was to write tickets for every offence that i see then i wouldnt get off the Gyratory system on a morning during rush hour.

Sadly though, putting cameras in strategic positions to 'catch' these perpetrators would be a bad move.Sadly, it wouldnt catch the high proportion of people who deserve to be caught because of the simple fact that they, as we all know, dont Tax, Register or Insure their vehicles.

Something certainly needs to be done about it though........another box of Trafpols perhaps?

[T4R]

How about a pressure pad, which after say 10 seconds of constant pressure activates spikes set into the box grid ? The offenders would certainly be a little having to buy new sets of rubber all the time.

[pies]

Sort out the traffic lights so the traffic can clear the junction before the next set change, so people have somewhere to go.
The amount of times i've come to a box junction with lights red only for them to turn green but there is nowhere for me to go.Some junctions you just have to go or you would litterally sit there all day

where you been stranger

[tonyrec]

Colin....YHM

Busy with one thing and another........life would be great if we didnt have to work.

Happy New Year to everyone, i trust that you got what you wished for?

>> Edited by tonyrec on Tuesday 6th January 19:36

[oggs]

tonyrec said:

Something certainly needs to be done about it though........another box of Trafpols perhaps?

i agree.... but are we gonna get them tho??

[streaky]

Well there'll be 550 spare BiBs when the "Super Wardens" come into being - Streaky (in a nuclear bunker somewhere)

[puggit]

Ummm Tony - not like me to correct you on the law, but aren't drivers perfectly entitled to sit there while they wait to turn right?

Online highway code said:

Box junctions. These have criss-cross yellow lines painted on the road (see Other road markings section). You MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear. However, you may enter the box and wait when you want to turn right, and are only stopped from doing so by oncoming traffic, or by other vehicles waiting to turn right. Law TSRGD reg 10(1)

www.highwaycode.gov.uk/16.shtml#150

[tonyrec]

Yes thats the only time that you can sit there.......but only when its allowed.
Sadly some people do it when theres no right turn

[squirrelz]

What about the unfortunate situation where you enter the box junction to turn right, and at that point the exit is clear, but by the time the traffic going straight on from the opposite direction clears, the exit isn't clear because of traffic turning left from the opposite direction?
(I hope that reads clearly)

[porsche944]

I'd be all for those "Super wardens" stading near some of the box junctions that I drive though in Central London and handing tickets out to all who sit in them - they'd probably pay for themselves in the first couple of days - it might even make the traffic in London flow a bit better when people get the message that every time they sit in a box junction (not to turn right!) they're going to get a ticket.

[pdV6]

tonyrec said:

Yes thats the only time that you can sit there.......but only when its allowed. Sadly some people do it when theres no right turn

I'm of the opinion that a box junction with a no right turn is just too confusing for the general population of numpties.
If you're lucky, they clock the box itself and dredge up the "its ok to enter if turning right" rule from the darkest depths of their memory and that then eclipses anything else, such as the no right turn sign.

[zcacogp]

I have a feeling I am going to get thumped for saying this, but this is one situation where I could almost find myself asking for a camera to record the offence.

I have "Yellow Box Junctions" in my mental Highway Code as being one of those things that is too complicated for most people to know about. Simple concept, but demands a little observation and thought. Therefore beyond most people. (Along with the different colours of catseye on the different sides of motorways and the various restrictions about yellow lines on pavements, not to mention the limits on vehicles with more than a certain number of seats being in the fast lane of a motorway.)

Tonyrec - your point about most of the prime offenders not being taxed/registered etc ... I'm with you all the way. Do you ever happen to patrol the East End of London by any chance? I'd say that half (yes, 50%) of the cars round here are lacking insurance, tax, MOT or proper registration ...


Oli.

[motco]

Errm, the last vehicle I saw sat in a box when it shouldn't have been was a van full of BiB in Merton High Street! [pulls ripcord]

[icamm]

zcacogp said:

I have "Yellow Box Junctions" in my mental Highway Code as being one of those things that is too complicated for most people to know about. Simple concept, but demands a little observation and thought. Therefore beyond most people. (Along with the different colours of catseye on the different sides of motorways and the various restrictions about yellow lines on pavements, not to mention the limits on vehicles with more than a certain number of seats being in the fast lane of a motorway.)

I agree. Add to that the "me first" society we are in and you have the "The traffic light was green so I went" brigade you have absolutely no concept that those markings on the road mean anything - especially to them as they are to busy and important to worry about a little bit of yellow paint.