She Was Just Trying To Cross The Street. She Had The Right Of Way And Now She Is In The Hospital.

This morning at about 8:00, a woman walking in a pedestrian crosswalk on Green Street was struck by a car turning off of State Street.  The woman was injured, perhaps seriously, and taken to the hospital in an ambulance.  She was strapped into a stretcher, though she did appear to be conscious.  While I did not witness the unfortunate incident, I did hear the driver, a middle-aged male, give his version of events to a Hudson police officer.

The driver said that he was turning left off of State Street onto Green Street on a green light when the sun made it difficult for him to see.  He then said this: "Now I don't drink and I don't smoke nothin'," adding that he had stopped his car before hitting the woman in the street but that she fell to the ground anyway, insinuating that the woman was faking the accident and her injuries.  The driver then fell to the ground, saying "Like this," as if to prove his point.

With that, a male standing nearby said out loud to everyone, "That's bullshit!  I saw him knock that woman over.  He's lying."  He was livid.  Apparently, he had been driving his pickup truck, waiting at the red light on Green Street, and witnessed the woman get knocked to the ground right in front of him.

The driver did not take kindly to the witness's comments.  Insults and accusations were hurled between the two and - I'm not joking - a fist fight nearly broke out between them.  Three cops had to separate the men, with one cop escorting the witness to his pickup truck parked across the street, telling him to "get out of here.  Get in your truck and leave."  The witness was Hispanic, and the victim seemed to be as well.  

It appears that the woman who was hit in the crosswalk had the right of way while crossing that long expanse of Green Street at a busy intersection along our truck route.  In other words, she was crossing the street when she should have been and when it was safest to do so.  Drivers turning corners who fail to yield to (or even see) pedestrians is a huge problem all over the country.  It is far too common (and worsening), often resulting in serious injury or death to the pedestrian and nothing much more than maybe a slap on the wrist for the driver.  What kind of ticket did today's driver receive if he was issued one?  Likely "Failure to yield to a pedestrian."  Whether you kill a pedestrian or "just" injure them -- "failure to yield to a pedestrian."    

While on foot or on two wheels, I dread trying to cross Green Street at State, or crossing State at Green, at any and all times of the day or night.  It's not just that this intersection isn't pedestrian friendly -- in spite of the crosswalk -- but it can be pedestrian hell, especially when the intersection is busy with vehicle traffic.  There are too many speeding drivers, a steady stream of vehicles entering and exiting both sides of the gas station, so many huge trucks (some errantly turning onto State), lots of turning vehicles (some of them taking right on red, which shouldn't be allowed!) and, of course, that stupid spit of triangular land thing making things more confusing and adding to the awkwardness and danger.  Generally, it is an awful intersection for pedestrians, and an "accident" like today's was inevitable there.  More "accidents" will come (it isn't great for vehicles, either), because the city won't do anything to do improve things.  Maybe there is nothing they can do, but an acknowledgement of the problem might be a nice gesture.

No stop signs, no crosswalks where 2 new breweries
recently opened and a huge apartment building 
is on the way.  7th & State.

One block away at 7th & State, in the dark of the early evening on December 2, 2023, a woman and her child crossing State were knocked to the ground by a vehicle whose driver claimed to have not seen them because of "darkness."  Somehow, no one was hurt or required medical attention.  There was, and still is, a streetlight literally hanging over that intersection and it was most definitely working at the time of that incident.  Then, on the evening of January 24th, a truck turning at that intersection, having strayed off of the truck route, hit and snapped the utility pole supporting that streetlight.

Yesterday morning, while I was waiting to cross Columbia Street at 6th Street to get to Warren Street on a clear day, I watched as a car headed east on Columbia passed the intersection just as the light turned yellow.  I noticed a third car approaching the red light somewhat slowly from about 100 feet away.  Before I stepped off the curb, I decided to make sure that driver was going to stop for its red light.  The light had been red for at least four seconds before the driver proceeded under the red light and through the intersection without ever applying the brakes.  Had a vehicle on 6th Street been headed into the intersection (where there is very limited visibility of eastbound traffic on Columbia) there would have been a terrific crash.  Had I decided to cross when that light turned red, when I was "safe" to cross...

There are no stop lines or crosswalks at this very busy intersection along our truck route where accidents are not uncommon.

Judging by all the sand soaking up oil that I noticed the day before yesterday in the middle of the intersection at 4th & Columbia, there appears to have been a terrific crash there that day.  Oil and debris in the middle of an intersection?  No doubt, someone ran a red light there yet again (or failed to heed the NO RIGHT ON RED sign).  This intersection, along our truck and at the bottom of a long hill, also has no white paint or decals anywhere on the pavement.  Just an old traffic light above, one that far too many drivers ignore or fail to notice.

Perhaps the mostly commonly ignored 
stop sign in all of Hudson.  6th & State.

When I was approaching 6th Street after being at the scene of today's "accident," I watched as a silver SUV headed east on State Street went straight past the bright red stop sign, over the stop line and through the intersection without ever slowing down.  The two-ton vehicle was moving at at least 20 miles per hour and the driver never even applied the brakes.  I see it all the time.