Gridlock: Why you shouldn’t queue across intersections
It’s the middle of peak hour, and traffic is beginning to build across the city.
As the streets become more congested, impatient motorists queue across intersections to try and gain a few metres.
What they don’t consider is that when the lights change and they’re still stuck at the intersection, traffic coming from other directions ends up being gridlocked.
This scene plays out every day across Adelaide during peak hour, and has resulted in police pulling up more than 260 motorists in the past five years for entering a blocked intersection.
Not only does it have the potential to obstruct the movement of other vehicles and the overall flow of traffic, it can also impact pedestrians and cyclists trying to cross the road.
Blocking an intersection offences
Of the 265 motorists caught blocking an intersection between 2014 and 2018, almost 100 were fined a total of $25,561. RAA Senior Manager Road Safety Charles Mountain said motorists need to ensure they don’t just follow the traffic across the intersection unless they can see there is enough space for them. “Queuing across an intersection can be extremely dangerous because the lights might change, leaving you in the way of oncoming traffic and potentially blocking the pedestrian crossing, putting pedestrians at risk too,” Mr Mountain said.
Queuing across intersections obstructs pedestrians crossing the road.
