A roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block
traffic
Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation.
Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
along a
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types o ...
. The reasons for one could be:
*
Roadworks
Roadworks (called road work or road construction in the United States) occur when part of the road, or in rare cases, the entire road, has to be occupied for work relating to the road, most often in the case of road surface repairs. In the ...
*Temporary road closure during special events
*
Police chase
A car chase or vehicle pursuit is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle in pursuit, commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcement. The rise of the automotive ...
*
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
*
Sobriety checkpoint
In peaceful circumstances, they are usually installed by the
police
The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...
or road transport authorities; they are also commonly employed during
wars and are usually staffed by heavily armed soldiers in that case. During
protest
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.
Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...
s and
riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people.
Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...
s, both police and demonstrators sometimes use roadblocks.
Clearing the Path for Land Rights, One Road Block at a Time: How Peru's Indigenous Population can Assert Their Land Rights Against Peru's Government
1 Global Bus. L. Rev. 229 (2010-2011)
File:Roadblock in Palestine.jpg, Roadblock in the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
File:Barykada.jpg, Polish barricade during the Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...
(1944)
File:Roadblocks.jpg, Roadblock during roadworks at Hisingen
Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by the main arm of ...
, Sweden, 2013
File:London November 23 2018 (19) Extinction Rebellion Protest Tower Hill.jpg, 'Swarming roadblocks' Extinction Rebellion, ( UK) (23 November 2018).
References
See also
* Road traffic control
: ''For the road traffic science, see various articles under Road traffic management.''
Road traffic control involves directing vehicular and pedestrian traffic around a construction zone, accident or other road disruption, thus ensuring the safet ...
* Barricade
Barricade (from the French ''barrique'' - 'barrel') is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction. Adopted as a military term, a barricade denot ...
* Boom barrier
* Braess's paradox
* ''Illinois v. Lidster
''Illinois v. Lidster'', 540 U.S. 419 (2004), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fourth Amendment permits the police to use a roadblock to investigate a traf ...
''
* Safety barrier
* Traffic break
Street furniture
{{Road-stub