Moving violation: Blocking the Box

It’s a usual occurrence on the streets of NYC during rush hour: roads and intersections become obscenely congested with pedestrians and drivers trying to slowly navigate  the crowded streets and make their way home. It is these moments where intersections  not only become the most active and crowded spaces in the city, but also a prime location where drivers may be hit with a Blocking the Box ticket.

What is Blocking the box?

A long time ago, the city instituted the Blocking the Box law in an effort to help ease traffic and congestion especially during rush hour. Blocking the Box prohibits drivers from entering an intersection where there is not enough room  to smoothly pass the crosswalk and proceed through the intersection without being forced to stop and therefore block the flow of traffic through the intersection. Watch out drivers, If you are caught blocking the box you will be given a summons with a side of a hefty fine.

Is it a parking ticket or moving violation?

It’s both! However, it wasn’t always like that. For years,  Blocking the Box violations were only considered moving violations which police gave to offending motorist and carried a maximum fine of $150 as well as 2 points on your license. However, in 2008 the status of blocking the box changed under the Bloomberg Administration and now has the dual status as both a moving violation and parking violation. This means that both police officers and traffic agents can penalize you for this offense. Traffic agents don’t even need to pull you over for them to hit you with a parking ticket, they merely need to witness you violating the law and enter in your license plate number into their system and soon a ticket of $115 dollars will be mailed right to your doorstep. Unlike infractions issued by police offices, a parking ticket for a blocking the box violation does not add points to your license and affect your car insurance rates. Still, we rather you not get hit with any fine, so be patient out there drivers!