In August 2018, Peter Spear of Future Hudson published a video that monitored the corner of Third and Warren streets and observed how pedestrians negotiated crossing the street, in every direction, often disregarding the traffic light and ignoring oncoming traffic. That video can be viewed here.
When Spear released his video, Gossips published a post about it: "Walk | Don't Walk." It suggested that the implicit recommendation of Spear's video was that pedestrian crossing lights were needed at this corner in particular, because it was where the truck route crosses a major pedestrian route. The post also made the explicit recommendation that the Tourism Board, then newly created, should consider investing in pedestrian crossing lights to improve the safety and walkability for tourists as well as residents. Since then, different iterations of the now nonexistent Tourism Board have shown little interest in investing in such basic infrastructure improvements.
This morning, Spear alerted Gossips to new signage at the corner of Warren and Third streets.
The signs warning pedestrians to "cross only on green" appear on all four corners of the intersection and were apparently placed there for the benefit of people crossing Third Street (the truck route) not Warren Street. One has to wonder how effective the new signs will be. Will people notice them? They are mounted rather high. If they are noticed, will they help?
One of the problems I have observed is that people, watching the traffic lights meant for vehicles, sometimes watch the wrong lights. I have seen people wait at the corner for the light to change, and when the light turns green for the street they are crossing, they step out into the street. Another problem is the visibility of traffic lights to pedestrians. A few years ago, a young woman named Kelly came to the Common Council to complain that the visors on the traffic light at Third and Warren made it difficult for a pedestrian to see which light is illumined. Walking my dog recently, on the north side of Warren, I was reminded of that, because she was absolutely right. I had to step back more than a yard from the corner to see the red, yellow, and green lenses.
Doing some research to determine if visor was the correct term for the part of the traffic light that surrounds the lens (it is), I learned there were two types of visor: a tunnel visor and a cap visor. A tunnel visor is like a simple cylinder and surrounds the lens almost completely. A cap visor leaves the bottom part of the lens exposed. I also learned that some municipalities use tunnel visors on the red and yellow lenses of traffic lights and a kind of cap visor on the green lens so that the green light can be seen by pedestrians.
Is it possible to swap out the visors on all four of the green lenses? Would that make it easier to see the green light and know when it is safe to cross Third Street when walking on Warren Street? Perhaps. But easier still would be pedestrian crossing signals.
Update: This morning, when I started this post, I thought the "Cross Only on Green" signs had only been installed at Third and Warren to warn pedestrians of the peril of crossing against the light on the truck route. This evening, I drove from Seventh Street to Third and found that the signs have been installed at every intersection with a traffic light, in each case oriented toward those walking on Warren Street. It would now appear their purpose is to remind people that when cars have the green light it should not be assumed they will stop for people who cross in their path.
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Let's not forget how police chief Ed Moore responded at an informal council meeting over 3 years or more ago when Bill Hughes and a woman spoke about the danger at 3rd and Warren. When they were both done speaking, warning that a pedestrian was bound to get hit by a car there soon enough, Moore said making any changes at the intersection would be difficult if not impossible because "DOT regulates every sign and every signal, even the color and size of the signs" and other nonsense. (It's in my notes!)
ReplyDeleteSo I emailed our region 8 DOT Regional Director Lance Macmillan and he assured me that DOT had absolutely nothing to do with ANY TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES (tcd) within the City of Hudson. DOT doesn't regulate our signs and lights, DOT does not maintain any and they don't install any TCD's. Hudson is responsible for all our TCD's -- we don't need permission from DOT to do anything with them, even remove them or install new ones.
Compounding the police chief's ignorance (where did he get his false info?) is the fact that the Commissioner of Police, NOT THE CHIEF OF POLICE, is the only one with the authority to deal with tcd's in the city. According to our code, Ed Moore does not have any authority to install or modify tcd's, which clearly also means that he shouldn't be taking questions from anyone and certainly not answering questions about TCD's, of which he has no experience with or authority over. But when you have a city hall that is so dysfunctional and whose leaders can't seem to speak to one another, including a Police Commissioner who NEVER attends council meetings, we are stuck with dangerous intersections, reckless drivers staring at their cel phones, sidewalks waiting to put you down on your face, and this recent lame effort with small signs to get people to cross at the green. And stuck with the public bringing issues to city hall's attention only to be dismissed often with falsehoods only to have the issue maddeningly, but not surprisingly, resurface years later once again to no avail.
It's enough to make you want to throw the bums out and start all over.
B Huston
The useless green signs were also installed at 6th and Warren, but also inexplicably meant for pedestrians crossing 6th, not Warren. It will be interesting to see whose great idea this was, how much it cost, why no mention was made at a council meeting and who got it okayed. If someone will fess up to it, of course.
ReplyDeleteI agree to the pedestrian crossing signals.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of maybe 5 years ago when our HPD made an effort to get pedestrians to pay attention to traffic and lights at intersections on Warren, to be safe. The HPD actually taped paper reminders to poles and I'm pretty sure had at least one officer for one or two days at an intersection reminding people and/or handing out paper reminders for those who weren't paying attention while crossing. It was the most juvenile, absurd waste of time and paper and money, their idea of solving a problem. Can't change the traffic lights at 3rd and Warren, so let's try to go after the pedestrians. They're the problem. Put little green signs up, too. That ought to take care of the issue! Look, we spent $500 on these signs, they've got to be effective.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago in the early afternoon I saw a car headed west on Warren, down the hill of the 400 block, that had to have been doing 40 mph. How about giving that driver a reminder! Where's the sign telling him to slow the hell down? Where's the cop with a speed radar gun giving that driver a ticket? NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.
Many, many people are selfish and rude. Those people will cross whenever they want. You can put up all the signs and lights you want, it won't stop people from crossing against the light. They are well aware of what they are doing.
ReplyDeletePedestrians have to look out for themselves, obviously the City isn't helping. Note the 800 and 700 block of Union Street. There are two newish mph signs for the new rule of 25mph, near the top of Union for traffic going west, (in spring, etc., hidden by leaves of a tree) and one at the bottom of the 700 block (near the police station) for traffic going east. Neither signs have the slightest affect as cars gun their engines either up the hill or down the hill all day long. I live in the middle and have to make sure that there is absolutely nothing coming in either direction to be able to cross the road. I never see (or hear) any ticketing, even though police cars are going in and out of the the station all day long.
ReplyDeleteJennifer - Police Chief Ed Moore said at a recent meeting that HPD is not able to use their radar gun in downtown Hudson, only on "long, open" roads like 9G by the bays and the new 20mph school zone on Harry Howard, which does not comply with NYS Traffic and Safety laws.
DeleteOur speed limit is simply unenforceable downtown, according to our Chief of Police, and this should be called what it really is: nonsense bullshit.
Crossing Guards!
ReplyDeleteTom D'Onofrio shared this comment in an email:
ReplyDeleteJust want to share w you that in the 60s and 70s the HPD would station patrolmen at 6th and 7th Warren intersections to direct traffic and pedestrians crossing.
Yes Hudson shopping was that busy on Thursday and Friday evenings.
May I suggest that the Hudson Mayor meet w HPD Chief and plan to include Crossing Guards, non-police, for Hudson.
Also w laws of pedestrian right of way, motorists right on red and cell phone use when walking intersection crossing is now more dangerous than ever.
At a recent council meeting I asked DPW superintendent Rob Perry why there is not one drop of white paint within the intersection of 6th and Columbia, along our truck route and where the very busy farmers market is located, where several red light running accidents have occurred and there has NEVER BEEN ONE STOP LINE or CROSSWALK on the pavement for any of the 3 directions of traffic. He acknowledged this fact and replied: "We do not have unlimited funds. We try to put stop lines and crosswalks in the commercial district first."
ReplyDeleteWhat I have not heard at any meetings before or since then from Mr Perry or anyone else is this: "We have several hundred dollars in the budget for small signs along Warren Street designed to get pedestrians to cross the street safely." I also didn't hear Tom Depietro ask the council members or the public if they had any comments or questions about such an expense and effort. Every intersection along Warren has pedestrian crosswalks installed on the pavement, and there are plenty of STOP LINES, too. But along the truck route? Forgetaboutit!
There is a fresh stop line on Dodge Street at the intersection with Prospect. It's a good thing, too, since there are SO MANY ACCIDENTS AT THAT CORNER WHICH IS NOT ALONG OUR TRUCK ROUTE! The heat-applied line/decal cost the city about 80 dollars.
The incoherence and nonsense at City Hall is frightening. But on and on it goes. A decent city manager might put an end to it -- certainly the present and previous mayors haven't been able to.