Enforcement will take ingenuity

City hall wants $450 fines for blocking the box — but Toronto drivers rarely get ticketed for causing gridlock, Sept. 4

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Red light cameras get results, as do speed cameras. Both catch drivers either speeding or running red lights. Why could these type of cameras not be permanently installed on perennially blocked boxes to catch and fine those responsible for causing gridlock? Police would not be necessary to write out the tickets and disrupt traffic even more. It may not deter all but would certainly reduce this offence, especially if the fines are high enough.
Julianna Drexler, Toronto

The city will never fix gridlock. Why? Because Toronto is broken and it has the most inconsiderate drivers I have ever seen.

I try not to drive downtown, but on two occasions over the summer, I spent an hour trying to go 300 metres. The first time was on Jarvis Street going south from Front Street to the Lake Shore Boulevard, and the second was on Bay Street between the same two streets. There were times when we would not move an inch during several light cycles. Drivers in the left lane barge their way in to the right with impunity and drivers on Lake Shore block the intersection. Add pedestrians who are in the intersection while cars try to turn right onto the Lake Shore and you have a recipe for disaster.

One fix would be to have scramble intersections and keep pedestrians out of the intersection, allowing cars to turn. Cars get the green light going north or south, then east or west (with no pedestrians) and then pedestrians can cross in any direction with no cars.

Another fix is to ticket scofflaws and to have traffic wardens at problem intersections all the time. At the very least, a solid white line needs to be painted on every street going southbound from Front to Lake Shore to deter merging (not that Toronto drivers will pay any attention).