History Main / RoadBlock

* In ''Film/VanishingPoint'', the cops block the road with two bulldozers. The protagonist, Kowalski, ''accelerates'' at the end of the run, hitting so hard that his card nearly folds in half and bursting into a fireball.

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* ''FanFic/TheSettlersRiseOfAnEmpire'': In ''The Mathematics of Deceit''. They jump over it.

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* The film version of ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' has a scene that pretty much exemplifies this trope.

* The 1986 movie ''Film/BandOfTheHand'' ends with the heroes pulling up to a police barricade in a camouflaged jeep filled with guns. The heroes proceed to bluff their way past the roadblock.
* Another bluff past a roadblock occurs in ''Film/APerfectWorld'', in which a convict and his young hostage/companion ride with a friendly family past a roadblock. Once out of sight, the family is left on the roadside, and the convict and boy take the car.

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* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''{{Literature/Tinker}}'', Tinker and Oilcan are stopped by a roadblock and asked for papers. [[spoiler:When the men see Windwolf inside, they are ordered to kill them all.]]

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* In 2010's ''Hot Pursuit'' and subsequent games, roadblocks are available as a weapon for police players and are considerably more effective. The vehicles are much harder to move (attempting to blow through them almost always results in a crash), and while there's a gap in the cars you can slip through, it's only a little bit wider than your car and it's very hard to find that gap when you're speeding down the road at 200 mph.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' series loves to play with this. ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' uses road blocks in the prologue to [[BrokenBridge keep Ness from going downtown, and later from going into Twoson]], under pretense that [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] are going for [[GuinnessEpisode the world record for how many roads they can close at once]]. Played with even more in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', where Road Blocks appear as as immobile enemies who, in true Mother fashion, [[RedEyesTakeWarning possess red eyes]], [[BlastingTime hands, telekinetic powers]] and the ability to call clunky robots into the fight. Averted, however, in that they don't actually block anything, since you can just run over them while in a vehicle, and at later levels, by charging into them.
* This can be found in some ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games, mainly ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' (where the roads are blocked due to an hurricane threat) and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' (where the roads are blocked due to an earthquake some time prior to the game events that has destroyed most bridges). In the former, it serves as an effective BrokenBridge, but in the latter, since your character can swim, there's also a BorderPatrol in the shape of a wanted level whenever you leaved the unlocked area.

* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'': The cops pursuing Jodie set up a roadblock on the other side of a bridge. She decides to just go straight through it on her stolen motorbike, having Aiden conjure a force field that stops all bullets and knocks friggin' SWAT trucks out of her way.

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The police are just waiting for our [[ChaseScene fleeing heroes]] to arrive at their RoadBlock. Too bad they don't know the heroes are going to escape with SloMoBigAir, or that they know another way; the roadblock will only be rammed by other [[{{LemmingCops}} police cruisers]]. Alternatively, the heroes will cleverly bluff past the guards, who are often [[{{CluelessDeputy}} incompetent]].

** In ''Film/BluesBrothers2000'', a RoadBlock has been set up; Elwood gets around it by driving ''under'' a river.

* ''Der Clown - Payday'' has two RoadBlock scenes. One is [[SloMoBigAir flown over]] by the good guys, one is removed when a tractor-trailer [[spoiler:driven by the BigBad and with the heroine tied to its front]] speeds towards it.

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* A minor occurrence in the first ''SinCity'' story (also depicted in the movie). The cops are chasing Marv on foot through the hotel. He drops out of the window and tries to go down the alley, only to see a cop car heading him off, blocking his way. He ends up jumping through the windshield to beat up the drivers and subsequently, take the car.

* It's possible to subvert this trope in ''NeedForSpeed Most Wanted'' and ''Carbon''. During a police chase, the police occasionally set up a roadblock in front of you in increasing frequency, depending on how much they want to take you down. While it's certainly possible (and fun ''and'' profitable) to simply smash through the roadblocks, if you want, you can simply take another street. That's right: the police are so adept at setting up roadblocks that they block off ''one'' street, giving you the option of as many as ''four other'' different escape routes. Brilliant.

* In WenSpencer's ''{{Literature/Tinker}}'', Tinker and Oilcan are stopped by a roadblock and asked for papers. [[spoiler:When the men see Windwolf inside, they are ordered to kill them all.]]

* Both of ''TheBluesBrothers'' films.
** In ''TheBluesBrothers'', the Blues brothers escape the cops by driving into a mall.
** In ''TheBluesBrothers 2000'', a RoadBlock has been set up; Elwood gets around it by driving ''under'' a river.

* The 1986 movie ''Band of the Hand'' ends with the heroes pulling up to a police barricade in a camouflaged jeep filled with guns. The heroes proceed to bluff their way past the roadblock.

In video games, [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence road blocks]] serve [[BrokenBridge other purpose]] and are used excessively [[NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom to avoid player wandering off the map]]. Contrast AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade and CheckpointCharlie.

In video games, [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence road blocks]] serve [[BrokenBridge other purpose]] and are used excessively [[NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom to avoid player wandering off the map]]. Contrast AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade.

** In Most Wanted, you can actually get the cops to take care of the roadblock for you if you're lucky, by pulling a 180 very quickly [[LemmingCops and letting the knuckleheads smash into their own roadblock]]. On higher levels this can backfire on you, though, as the heavy [=SUVs=] the police begin using in their roadblocks are hard to move on their own, let alone with a cruiser in front of them. [[SloMoBigAir You can also hop them by jumping them if you hit a (police) car in front of the block going fast enough to take off at the right angle (although this is hard to do deliberately). Unfortunately, the same [=SUVs=] that can stop you cold with their sheer weight can also be just high enough to catch your wheels, leading to the incredibly embarrassing situation of being arrested because you couldn't get off from on top of the SUV quickly enough.

** In Most Wanted, you can actually get the cops to take care of the roadblock for you if you're lucky, by pulling a 180 very quickly [[LemmingCops and letting the knuckleheads smash into their own roadblock]]. On higher levels this can backfire on you, though, as the heavy [=SUVs=] the police begin using in their roadblocks are hard to move on their own, let alone with a cruiser in front of them.

* A military roadblock shows up in the CiaphasCain novel ''For The Emperor'', manned by PDF troopers in the middle of a tense, riot-filled city on Gravalax. They force a Guard truck under Cain's command to stop, since Cain is ferrying a group of not-quite-enemy Tau diplomats. The PDF troops manning the roadblock refuse to bow to Cain's authority due to their mistrust of the Tau ([[spoiler: and possible genestealer infestation]]) and he is forced to gun them down before they open fire. Even the veteran commissar is [[DirtyBusiness dismayed at having to go to such lengths]], but it was the only way to return the diplomats in time to avoid a full-scale war.

* In ''DangerMouse On The Orient Express,'' the Venice canal DM and Penfold are enjoying is blocked--by a road construct.

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* This can be found in some ''GrandTheftAuto'' games, mainly ''GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' (where the roads are blocked due to an hurricane threat) and ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' (where the roads are blocked due to an earthquake some time prior to the game events that has destroyed most bridges). In the former, it serves as an effective BrokenBridge, but in the latter, since your character can swim, there's also a BorderPatrol in the shape of a wanted level whenever you leaved the unlocked area.

* The ''{{Mother}}'' series loves to play with this. ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' uses road blocks in the prologue to [[BrokenBridge keep Ness from going downtown, and later from going into Twoson]], under pretense that [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] are going for [[GuinnessEpisode the world record for how many roads they can close at once]]. Played with even more in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', where Road Blocks appear as as immobile enemies who, in true Mother fashion, [[RedEyesTakeWarning possess red eyes]], [[BlastingTime hands, telekinetic powers]] and the ability to call clunky robots into the fight. Averted, however, in that they don't actually block anything, since you can just run over them while in a vehicle, and at later levels, by charging into them.