Blocking the Box Could Get More Costly

Traffic agents could soon have the authority to write tickets for "blocking the box" without even pulling over drivers.

Mayor Bloomberg is pushing for legislation that would make getting stuck in an intersection a nonmoving violation like a parking ticket, rather than a moving violation, for which an officer needs to pull you over.

If approved in Albany, a traffic agent who spots a car blocking an intersection in, say, Midtown, would simply plug the car's license plate number into a handheld device. The ticket would arrive in the mail.

"We'll be able to increase the number of tickets we issue, which will ultimately discourage more people from breaking the law," Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday in traffic-clogged Times Square. Last year, the city issued 13,880 violations for cars that were blocking intersections.

The reclassification would not only increase the price of a ticket to $115 from $90, but would free all 2,800 traffic agents to write them. The plan — part of a larger package of environmental proposals Mr. Bloomberg is pushing — also calls for adding 117 new traffic agents.

City Council Member Daniel Garodnick said the perpetual city traffic congestion makes it nearly impossible to get to an appointment on time.

"Much of my district during the business hours has become a parking lot. And, by that, I don't mean to say that more people are parking there. It is that if you're in a car during business hours you simply cannot move and cannot go anywhere," he said.