If you\u2019ve driven down St. Lucie West Boulevard during rush hour, you\u2019ve likely seen the line of cars that backs up into the intersection when drivers don’t make the green light.<\/p>\n
Now, the Port St. Lucie Police Department is cracking down on drivers who “block the box,\u201d the area within an intersection that should remain clear.<\/p>\n
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Rush-hour traffic is already slow-moving, but when vehicles stop in the middle of intersections, it creates gridlock and delays for everyone on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s in a hurry depending on what your day is like and people want to get to their destination so they\u2019re going to blow every light that they can,\u201d said Port St. Lucie resident Darlene Mahler.<\/p>\n
Police say that by trying to squeeze past the intersection and tailgate the car in front of them, drivers are actually disrupting the flow of cross traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are so self-centered that they\u2019re just so worried about themselves and don\u2019t really consider anybody else and it just makes it harder for everyone,\u201d said commuter Cyrus Postis.<\/p>\n
To address the issue, Port St. Lucie police are increasing enforcement along busy stretches of St. Lucie West Boulevard. Their message: \u201cdon\u2019t block the box!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just something that needs to be done, [so] that people realize, you know what, you\u2019re not the only one in line,\u201d Mahler said.<\/p>\n
Photos posted on the department\u2019s Facebook page show long lines of vehicles stopped in the middle of intersections.<\/p>\n
The problem doesn\u2019t just affect drivers, but also pedestrians. \u201cA lot of people stop in the crosswalk,\u201d said resident Tom Murphins, who relies on his scooter to get around. He\u2019s even installed an air horn to alert drivers blocking his path.<\/p>\n
Police say they\u2019ll begin the campaign with education before issuing tickets at intersections known for congestion, including Peacock, Cashmere, and California boulevards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just came from there and it was just like that, there was a traffic trailer going westbound that blocked the whole thing,\u201d Murphins said.<\/p>\n
Both drivers and pedestrians hope the crackdown will help traffic move more smoothly and safely through one of the city\u2019s busiest corridors.<\/p>\n
Portions of this story were assisted by artificial intelligence tools and reviewed by a WPTV journalists to ensure accuracy, clarity, and adherence to editorial standards.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve driven down St. Lucie West Boulevard during rush hour, you\u2019ve likely seen the line of cars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[28,28853,28851,28852,28850,171,173,172],"class_list":["post-44896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-florida","tag-kids-found-dead-in-fire","tag-man-accused-of-killing-kids-before-fire","tag-man-sexually-assaults-child","tag-mobile-home-fire","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}