Guidelines on enforcement of box junctions in lbhf

LBHF BOX JUNCTION ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE ver. 3 2007

GUIDELINE POLICY ON ENFORCEMENT OF BOX JUNCTIONS IN LBHF
1043 sign = Full road width box junction.

1044 sign = Half road width box junction.

Local Authority Traffic offence code for all Box junctions = 31

Blocking back = Phrase used for tailing back traffic queues over box junctions.

On coming Traffic = (For the purposes of this guideline) Traffic coming head on

towards vehicle.

Cross traffic = (For the purposes of this guideline) Traffic crossing vehicle path.
The legislation that decriminalises certain traffic offences allowing Local Government in London to enforce them is the London Local Authorities & TFL Act 2003.
The Regulations governing the use of Box Junctions are found in “The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002” (TSR&GD 2002) in part II Schedule 19 articles 6, 7 & 8. Further guidance & understanding can be found in “Chapter 5 Traffic Signs Manual: 2003 Road markings”. The TSR&GD 2002 states as follows;
“Interpretation of part II of schedule TSR&GD 2002

6. In this part of the schedule -

1. 
   “Box junction” means the area of carriageway marked with yellow cross-
   

hatching at a junction between two or more roads on which there has been

placed the road marking shown in diagram 1043 or 1044; and

2. 
   a reference (however expressed) to a vehicle which is stationary or stops within a box junction includes a vehicle which is stationary whilst part of it is within the box junction
   

Prohibition conveyed by markings in diagram 1043 or 1044

7. – (1) Except when placed in the circumstances described in paragraph 8, the road

marking shown in diagram 1043 and 1044 shall each convey the prohibition

that no person shall cause a vehicle to enter the box junction so that the vehicle

has to stop within the box junction due to the presence of stationary vehicles.

(2) The prohibition in sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to any person –

1. 
   Who causes a vehicle to enter the box junction (other than a box junction at a roundabout) for the purposes of turning right; and
   
2. 
   Stops it within the box junction for so long as it is prevented from completing the right turn by oncoming vehicles or other vehicles which are stationary whilst waiting to complete a right turn.”
   

Article 8 is not relevant to LBHF as it talks about Box junctions, which have accompanying “give way to oncoming traffic” signs at narrow points.
The above is the nationally adopted regulations on all box junctions in the country. However if there are Current Local permanent Traffic Management Orders (TMO’s) in place governing the “Boxes”, these will still be in force first and foremost unless revoked by Traffic management.
Evidence required during enforcement

The above regulations, condensed down to a minimum, mean that drivers entering and stopping on the box junction, whilst stationary vehicles obstruct their exit, whether in the road ahead or to either side, commit an offence. It is permissible however, to enter and become stationary if turning right and prevented from leaving the junction only by oncoming traffic, or by other vehicles waiting to complete the right turn. Therefore the evidence, we as CCTV enforcement officers need as a minimum, will be to capture the vehicle entering, and showing they stopped in the box due to the presence of stationary vehicles. all at the same time, and that they were not making a right turn as allowed in the exemption (4 basic criteria). The entry point onto the box is important to capture at the same time as the traffic conditions beyond the box, as this is the point of no return when vehicle drivers make their decision to cross.

NB:

If there is a prohibition on the right turn in place for example, the TSR&GD 2002 National legislation seems to be silent on this scenario therefore we could not necessarily enforce the box for this reason if somebody was doing a banned turn. However older Traffic orders in force, do say that vehicles making the right turn on a box junction can do so only if there is no other enactment in place banning that turn. Therefore we could enforce if the vehicle entered, stopped and their exit was not clear if the box had its own traffic order with such a phrase.

As we have separate contraventions for banned turns and other traffic contraventions that we can enforce, this should not present problem if it ever came up on a box junction that was governed by the TSR&GD 2002.
NB:

If a vehicle is making a right turn and is being held up from completing that turn, by oncoming traffic as in the exemption for vehicles on box junctions, the TSR&GD 2002 National standard is silent on whether the exit should also be clear. Therefore we do not need to not consider the state of the exit in this circumstance.

Emergency vehicles and Buses

The TSR&GD 2002 does not seem to exempt emergency vehicles but the LLA&TFL 2003 does in general terms. Therefore we cannot enforce against Police, Ambulance or Fire Brigade vehicles unless we can show they were not on a relevant purpose for the type of vehicle. Buses are also not exempted from box junctions, unless there is a traffic order in force with such an exemption stated. LBHF does have one:

Scenarios & defences

When capturing the “4 basic criteria” evidence, the idea is for us to show that the vehicle had no excuse to be in the box. The burden of proof is on us, the Local Authority to show this. We must look out for all the various excuses that drivers will use valid or not, and be consistent in how we capture our evidence. We need to be aware of the following defence for the purposes of these guidelines whilst enforcing box junctions, as well as any Legal exemptions:

“…provided that no driver of a vehicle which is caused to remain at rest within the area shall be guilty of an offence if at the time he/she drove into that area he/she had reasonable cause to believe that he/she would immediately thereafter be able to drive the vehicle wholly out of the area”. We should bear this in mind to be reasonable. Although this is not stated in the TSR&GD 2002 regulations, it was a phrase that was used in Box junction Traffic orders in the past and is still a good phrase to bear in mind for good enforcement practice purposes.
Here are some scenarios we should look out for when assessing a possible contravention whilst capturing the “4 basic criteria”:

1. 
   If 2 cars travel across a box junction in their own lanes to go straight ahead, but there is only one space in one of the lanes on the exit of the box, one car may cross from one lane to the other to get in front of the other car already in that lane and take the space. Therefore the car in the correct lane with the space originally, had reason to believe they could get to it, before being “cut up” by the other car. Bikes could also cause this scenario even though they are smaller.
   

2. 
   A car travels across the box junction as there is space on the other side, but a Bus pulls out from a side junction and stops on the box and obstructs it or uses the space. This is not the fault of the car. The Bus may actually be eligible for a PCN if it has stopped and the exit is not clear due to stationary vehicles, but this is as long as there was no exemption for the bus in a TMO that might still be in place, which allows it to stop on the box whilst making a turn. Boxes put in place to help the flow of Buses specifically, need their TMO’s to be double checked.
   

3. 
   Some box junctions can only be seen by the camera from head/rear on. At this angle from a distance, slow moving cars can be hard to see if they have stopped. Officers may need to zoom in to prove the stopping part of the “4 basic criteria”. 2 full seconds of stopping should be captured. Contrasting the vehicle or part of it with a stationary object can do this. The box junction hatched markings can be useful for this purpose.
   

4. 
   If looking at a box junction head or rear on, you may find that offending vehicles become hidden from view by larger vehicles at the point they stop and although you know they must have stopped, because they are shielded by a larger vehicle, you cannot gain the stopping evidence. This scenario would not be able to be enforced. You may also get a similar scenario if large vehicles’ obscure what is going on beyond the box junction. The officer would have to ascertain if the evidence they have gained is solid enough to rebut any challenge to the PCN.
   

5. 
   Steady slow moving traffic over a box junction is probably the most difficult scenario to deal with especially if we are dealing with multiple lanes. Somebody suddenly slowing down or stopping short for no good reason may cause a judgement problem, when drivers in the vehicles behind, looking in advance of the vehicle in front of them thought they had judged it correctly and would make it off the box. An example maybe when there are 3 empty car spaces in one lane on the exit side of the box junction and 3 cars start to travel over the box towards them in one line. The first 2 cars may use up all 3 spaces due to leaving large gaps between them. This would be unfair to the third car driver who thought they would all fit in. The critical factor here is that the drivers have a reasonable line of sight to make their judgements. We should apply discretion. We have to weigh up the good momentum of traffic travelling freely over box junctions while not trying to make people treat it like a stop line or give way line unnecessarily. In time deterrence should make more drivers aware of how to treat their approach to a box junction.
   

6. 
   If a drivers sight, to make that judgement, is impaired however, i.e. being too close to the rear of a large lorry in front of them, then we should look to enforce as they should have given themselves more room to make the judgement. Tailgating is an issue over box junctions that can cause sudden “blocking back” problems. This scenario is probably the hardest situation to judge due to many factors.
   

7. 
   As with scenario 5 above, when dealing with large volumes of traffic over the
   

larger box junctions the officer will need to try and keep an eye on many cars.

In most situations like this it may well be best just to focus on a few cars to

gain solid evidence especially if this involves moving the camera around to

gain it.

8. 
   Where a camera has a side on view to a box junction, we have to be very careful how we acquire the necessary evidence. We need the entry of the box status and exit status. This can be difficult as it would entail constantly moving the camera from side to side to see further into the exit area for evidence against a defence. Usually there will be traffic lights around so the operator may have to use a technique which follows the traffic back from a red light, which shows what is going on at the exit, and when the traffic is at the exit of the box the operator can then keep and eye on entry to the box itself and the last car on the exit of the box. If a vehicle then subsequently moves onto the box and stops, we can then show it had no good reason to do this. We may have to pan back along the traffic to the lights again to backup the evidence that the exit status has not changed. This can be tricky but not impossible and would be a limit to enforcement.
   

9. 
   On large type box junctions, cars and vans with less than 50% of their length over the box should have discretion applied if they are not an obstruction. On smaller box junctions 25%”grace” would apply as long as they are not an obstruction. An attached list shows which boxes the 50% or 25% rule should be applied to. Some very small/special case box junctions should have 0% discretion. Decisions on Lorries and Buses would be left down to how much of problem they would cause.
   

In summary:

CEO’s need the following basic evidence for a contravention: A full orientation of the Box Junction needs to be fulfilled. Entering, stopping and also showing vehicles had stopped due to stationary vehicles and that they were not exempted by making a right turn (4 basic criteria). Officers also need to show the vehicle stationary for 2 full seconds on the box junction (unless rocking back and forth to get out of PCN, then a PCN can be issued) and the traffic state on and after the box junction for a reasonable distance. Officers need to also follow the advice given on the CCTV box junction enforcement maps as additional help.