Because traffic calming is a perennial concern in Hudson, I read every article on the subject that pops up in my Facebook feed. This morning, it was this one: "Want to #SlowTheCars? Don't Rely on Enforcement." This seemed particularly relevant given the tense exchange at the last Common Council meeting when Bill Huston demanded to know why the police weren't preventing people from speeding and running stop signs.
The article concludes that "the most proven way to curb speeding" is this: "Create spaces in which it is physically uncomfortable or impossible to drive a vehicle quickly." There has to be more to it than that. Our narrow streets, with vehicles parked on either side, certainly seem to be spaces where it is "physically uncomfortable or impossible to drive a vehicle quickly," yet it happens all the time.
COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK
Almost 3 years ago at the intersection of 6th and Columbia, someone ran the red light and totaled the HPD's silly DARE vehicle (a blessing from above, if you ask me!). The officer driving it was not injured. LAST Saturday night someone ran a red light at that same intersection and slammed into a Fire Dept. Pickup truck (?) and did some damage, who knows, maybe totaled also. No injuries, apparently. The offending driver told officers that he was "distracted," according to the RS article. The debris is still there, all over the place, and lots of it.
ReplyDeleteNeighbors know what the HPD and DPW don't know or don't want to acknowledge and deal with: that something is wrong with the intersection at 6th and State. Stop lines would be a nice start. It is the friggin' truck route, after all. Hire a professional to figure it out, don't rely on the amateurs at HPD and DPW.
You or I may be the next in line when some zombie with one eye on his or her celphone runs the red there again, "accidently," of course. I wonder if someone were to die in an accident there if it would even garner mention at the following CC meeting from HPD or DPW. It would be nice to know someone cares and is paying attention. Don't count on it.
Bill Huston
6th and Columbia, not State (Though State is problematic as well)
DeleteSpeeding happens all the time because drivers know that, as Chief Moore admitted at Monday's meeting, enforcing by radar in downtown simply doesn't happen. What other result would you expect? B Huston
ReplyDelete