City Insider
Cracking down on drivers who block intersections, double park
By Michael Cabanatuan on December 3, 2014 at 3:11 PM
If you are accustomed to cramming your car into a San Francisco intersection as the light's about to turn, or stopping in a lane of traffic because there's no parking place nearby and you'll only be there a minute, now might be the time to change your behavior.
Mayor Ed Lee, Police Chief Greg Suhr and Transportation Director Ed Reiskin on Wednesday announced a crackdown on two San Francisco driving traditions: "blocking the box" or remaining in intersections and crosswalks after the light has changed, and double parking, stopping in a traffic lane to make deliveries, drop off your girlfriend at work or pick up some takeout food.
"There will be no tolerance of blocking the box," Lee said at the city's new Transportation Management Center. "Those that do will face the hefty fines already on the books."
The mayor promised the same "hefty fines" for double-parkers as well. And he said parking control officers would be carefully checking on contractors who have permits to block lanes of traffic to make sure they're following the strictures of those permits.
Suhr said that neither contractors nor delivery vehicles would be granted exemptions from the double-parking bans though citations won't be issued in every instance. Blocking lanes has been common practice for vehicles making deliveries and pickups, but no longer, Suhr said.
"Double parking is what it is," he said, "and it is not legal."
Fines for blocking the box range from $103 — if you're just sitting in the intersection — to $110 if you're making a turn but only if those tickets are issued by parking control officers, who are restricted to writing tickets related to parking violations. Police officers will ticket drivers for moving violations, which carry a $258 penalty. Double-parking fines are $110.
Reiskin and Suhr said the MTA's parking-control officers and police officers will join forces on the crackdown, increasing the amount of enforcement by at least 50 percent. Stepped-up enforcement could occur all over the city, Reiskin said, but will concentrate on problem areas. The don't-block-the-box crackdown, for instance, will focus on the South of Market during the evening commute.
"We'd like to have a couple of cops or parking control officers at every intersection," he said, "but we're not going to be able to accomplish that."
Blocking intersections and traffic lanes is not just a congestion issue, but a safety hazard, Suhr said, noting that drivers often behave erratically when blocking the box. It also creates a dangerous situation for pedestrians and bicyclists who have to weave around or cross between vehicles.
"We take no pleasure in giving tickets," Suhr said. "But if that's what it takes …"
The crackdown was announced at the opening of the agency's new Transportation Management Center, which features big video walls, scores of computer monitors and two big red emergency buttons that can instantly stop the cable car and subway systems.
It combines the old Muni control center and traffic operations center in a single, modern location that makes it easier to tell what's going on all over the city, Reiskin said.
Michael Cabanatuan
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