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‘Don’t block the box’ campaign comes to Hartford

HARTFORD — The city announced a new campaign to crack down on a driving violation. If you stop in the middle of an intersection at a red light, it’s...
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HARTFORD -- The city announced a new campaign to crack down on a driving violation. If you stop in the middle of an intersection at a red light, it's called "Block the Box."

City officials held a press conference Thursday to warn people that starting October 17, infraction tickets will be issued if you block off a grid area at an intersection. Mayor Luke Bronin said police will be giving people a grace period until then, with just verbal and written warnings.

"It’s really just common sense. If you see traffic backed up, if you see that there’s not room enough to cross fully across the intersection into the next lane then don’t start," Bronin said.

However some motorists said driving in downtown Hartford is already so congested that pulling people over would just add to the overcrowding.

"It`s usually crowded, I don`t understand why they would ticket someone for blocking the intersection, you can`t control that," said Jalaj Kumar.

While others disagree.

"There`s pedestrians that need to walk across the street especially downtown here you have a lot of pedestrians that cross the street all the time and they should be crossing in the crosswalks and not in the middle of the street," said Chris Kendra.

If you get pulled over, the fine is $117.

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