Speeding is a concern in our city. In 2021, the speed limit on Union Street and Glenwood Boulevard was reduced from 30 mph to 25 mph. The Common Council Legal Committee has started work on reducing the speed limit to 25 mph throughout the city. But will reducing the speed limit be enough?
On Friday night, at about 11:30 p.m., residents of the 300 block of State Street were startled by "a loud boom and the crushing sound of metal on metal." One of those residents described the incident for Gossips: "A car had completely flipped over and taken out several other vehicles in its path. . . . The incident was a stark reminder of the dangerous conditions we often see on this street by people speeding." That resident also provided these photographs.
Traffic calming is a serious concern for us in Hudson. Received wisdom maintains that enforcement cannot be relied on to curb speeding, but rather the solution is to "create spaces in which it is physically uncomfortable or impossible to drive a vehicle quickly." This solution may seem to make sense when applied to State Street, which is probably the widest street in Hudson, but people also speed on narrower streets. In Gossips' recollection, parked cars have been totaled by speeding vehicles on lower Allen Street and lower Union Street, where the width of the streets should make speeding "physically uncomfortable." Perhaps we need an ad hoc committee, of the Common Council or of private citizens, tasked with studying the issue of traffic calming, researching best practices, and recommending solutions.COPYRIGHT 2023 CAROLE OSTERINK
Lets not forget that a few years ago the Council took up the issue of traffic calming, specifically speed bumps and humps as a solution. It went absolutely nowhere because Rob Perry, DPW Superintendent, showed up with articles and data showing how these calming measures would have no effect AND he said that the humps couldn't be done because they would interfere with the DPW snowplows and damage trucks and on and on. The DPW Superintendent has no interest in calming traffic.
ReplyDeleteAnother ad hoc committee, Carole? More study, just like then? Why? It won't go anywhere, not as long as the obstructionist at the DPW gets his way.
I lived in Ithaca in the late 90s -- they had the same speeding issues. What did they do? They (probably DPW) decided speed humps were a good start and had them installed. Guess what? They helped slow speeders down. Hudson? Why bother? Rob Perry tells us it shouldn't be done! Of course, he doesn't offer any other solutions.
Bill Huston
How did Ithaca deal with the plowing of streets with speed bumps in place?
Delete3 years ago, my parked car was totaled at the corner of State and 6th by a reckless, speeding driver who came barreling around the corner, hit my car and one in front of mine, and then he tried to drive away, according to witnesses. One of his wheels was ruined so he could not flee.
ReplyDeleteOne night last year, near midnight, I heard the unmistakable sound of a crash, much like described in your post. I looked outside to see a SUV in the middle of State Street on its roof, the wheels still spinning and smoke coming from the engine. The car had slammed into a parked BMW (likely totaled) and spun out of control, obviously driving way too fast while approaching the stop sign at 6th.
It is no longer State Street, it is the State Street Speedway, and there's a reason for this: Let's also not forget what Ed Moore, HPD Chief, told us recently at a public meeting when I asked him what, if anything, his officers were doing about enforcing the speed limit downtown. He replied that there was nothing HPD could do about enforcing the limit because the speed radar gun they have does not work on our city streets -- only on the more wide-open streets found on the outskirts of town. It's all so absurd.
The speed limit is for law abiding people. It will never stop Driver’s who just don’t G.A.S.
ReplyDeleteWarren Street sounds like a race track now.
ReplyDeletePerhaps seasonal speed tables or something that can force drivers to slow down. It's not a matter of if, but when someone is going to get really hurt or killed. And then, it's going to be too late.
Put a small landscaped median on State St., it would calm traffic and improve the aesthetics of a mostly barren streetscape
ReplyDeleteExcellent suggestion! This is worth exploring!
DeleteDon't bother, it is a bad idea -- there is no room to do anything of the sort. It would make the street more accident prone, not less.
DeleteIs that Tom Depietro getting ready to "explore" a really bad idea? Time well spent, Tom!