Blocking the Box

Thursday, December 9, 2010

What is it about falling snow, motorized vehicles, and a compelling need to be an inconsiderate ass? How long did it take you to get home last night in our first real, area-wide snow storm of the season? If you were coming from downtown Cleveland, the answer would be “too f…ing long!” The thing is…it was more than the snow that caused the delay.

Much of the slow drive home resulted from so many drivers ‘blocking the box’ or pulling into an intersection when they don’t have enough room to actually make it through. Every time it happens to me and some slimebucket has me blocked, I wish I had a Hum-Vee and could just push their sorry ass through the intersection and deposit them in a snow bank on the other side. Wisely, God did not give me a Hum-Vee.

There’s a law designed to prevent swine from pulling this stunt, but it’s pretty much unenforceable. Officers are too busy dealing with trying to keep traffic flowing at intersections or handling accidents to be able to pull over and ticket the folks who, lacking any common sense or decency, think they should proceed into an intersection and block it, to the inconvenience of the rest of the world. In case you are one of those people and don’t quite get the concept I’m discussing, it goes like this:

“No driver shall enter an intersection or marked crosswalk or drive onto any railroad grade crossing unless there is sufficient space on the other side to accommodate the vehicle without obstructing the passage of other vehicles, notwithstanding any traffic control signal indication to proceed.”

If I had written the law, it would have been a little clearer and gone something like:

“Any asshole blocking an intersection because they think where they’re going is somehow more important than where I’m going, will be dragged from their car and beaten with a cane until they say they’re sorry and promise to never do it again.”

I started the day with a light, shoveling workout. The plows had moved all extra snow from the street into the bottom of my driveway overnight, but it only took about 10 minutes to clear. I took a night off from running and climbed instead onto the trainer and rode while watching another episode of ‘Lost’. Tomorrow…a double. I’m going to two holiday parties over the weekend and that can only spell excess fat calories. I’ll need the extra workout time.

Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 900.